Deals with the Devil
by cora-91
Summary: The night that Jenny Calendar was murdered, Buffy was forced to make a deal with Angelus. Now, she finds herself sleeping with the enemy and going behind her friends' backs to keep her deal. Possible Angelus Buffy. Please Read and REVIEW! thanks:
1. Chapter 1

He watched her through the windows. He saw her strength falter as she took in the news. He had seen it before...he had seen it often actually. The ecstasy of grief was intoxicating to him; watching Buffy slide down the wall as she silently grieved was like a drug for him. He couldn't get enough of it. He smiled as Willow cried openly in Joyce's arms. But he couldn't take his eyes off Buffy. She had heard it from her own Watcher--Jenny Calendar was dead.

The minutes passed by slowly. Angelus knew he should leave, should go, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the sight of Buffy. He knew her Watcher--Giles--was coming over soon. He needed comfort, and Joyce had called him back immediately to demand that he come to the Summers' home. Buffy had agreed with a silent nod. It would keep him out of trouble, away from the idea of revenge, which Buffy knew he would turn to if he was left alone for too long. He loved Jenny, and Angelus knew it. It was the reason he killed her--to get to Giles,  
to get to Buffy.

Angel slipped quietly behind a tree when he saw Giles' old car pull up to the Summers' home. He watched as the Watcher somberly knocked on the door and waited to be let in. Willow was the first to the door, and she wrapped the old librarian in a quick hug. Her face was still streaked with tears, Angelus noticed with a smile. Buffy hadn't gone to the door. In fact, after Angelus had taken his eyes off of her to watch Giles, she had disappeared from her spot on the dining room floor. Angel's curiosity was piqued. He wanted to see the Slayer suffer. He wanted to see her mourn, grieve, to feel the loss that he had inflicted upon her and her friends.

Angelus walked slowly around the house, peeking into each window as he passed it, searching for the one thing he wanted to see--Buffy in pain. He should head back to the factory, let Drusilla and Spike in on what he had done, give them a heads up in case a seriously pissed off Slayer went for some revenge of her own, but Angelus couldn't bring himself to leave. He couldn't admit it to Dru or Spike, or even to himself, but there was something left over from his days as the soulful Angel that continued to draw him to Buffy. He wanted to see her. Granted, he wanted to see her in pain now instead of wrapped up, happy and safe in his arms as he had wanted to see her then. Still, he was obsessed, and obsessions were what Angelus was about. Drusilla had been an obsession, and Angel was more than pleased as to how that conquest had turned out. She was quite a victory for him, one that he continued to celebrate every night, especially now that Spike was confined to wheels and handicapped parking spaces.

Nearing the back of the house, Angelus slowed his pace. He hadn't found Buffy in any of the downstairs rooms. She may have gone up to her bedroom. As he stepped around the back corner of the home, he stopped. He heard quiet sniffles, the faint dripping of tears falling to a wooden porch. He listened for a moment, heard one slow, steady heartbeat, and then silently continued his walk. He had crossed the backyard and was at her side in a second, although she still hadn't noticed him. She was too wrapped up in her grief to have paid attention to the dark presence that was standing at her side, looking down at her. Angel smiled slightly, wondering at the sight of the small, blonde Slayer wrapped up into such a small ball, crying by herself on her back porch. It was a wondrous sight to see what damage one determined vampire could cause.

At that moment, Buffy noticed him. She hadn't looked up, she hadn't heard him breathing--he didn't need to breathe. She had simply felt a change in the air. Something dark, something powerful, and something that was painfully and achingly familiar. S he could feel his presence, and it hit her in the deepest part of her body. Her heart hammered hard in her chest, as it always did when Angelus was around. Part of her knew it was the feelings she still had for the man he was, for the Angel that had a soul, and part of her knew that it was the slight fear that Angelus really could be stronger than her, more powerful. He scared her--both because he was strong and because a part of her didn't want to kill him. Actually, he terrified her.

She was up and on her feet in a second. Wiping a tear off her cheek with the back of her hand, she backed up so she was out of striking distance from him. She wasn't up for a fight at the moment. Unfortunately, moving away from him meant moving away from the back door, something she wished she could run through, into the safety of her home.

"What do you want?" she asked him, through gritted teeth. Her lips trembled in anger, her fists clenched so tightly at her sides, she was ready to strike.

"Hello, lover," he answered her quietly. He narrowed his eyes at her. "I see you got my gift."

"Go to hell." Buffy's eyes glowed with anger. Even Angelus would have to admit that the Slayer looked pretty damn impressive at the moment. Anyone would have to be a fool to take her on at a time when she was so incredibly pissed off. Angelus wasn't a fool, but he was craving a fight.

Buffy, however, didn't want a fight. She wanted to sprint to her screen door, run through it, and slam it in his face. Her and Willow's spell would keep him out of her home, would keep Buffy protected inside of her house, and Buffy needed that protection. She couldn't fight him. By murdering Jenny, he had just proven to her that no matter how much she tried, she couldn't protect everybody. No one was safe as long as they were tied to Buffy. In fact, no one was safe at all as long as Angelus was around.

A smiled played in the vampire's eyes. "I've already been there, lover. You should join me sometime." He wasn't poised to fight her, despite her own fighting stance. He knew that his work tonight had done its job. He had hit the Slayer hard. He had proven to her that, no matter how hard she may fight against him, she could still lose. She could lose the people that mattered most to her.

She was already losing them.

Buffy's fists relaxed slightly, as she noticed he was not going to attack her. Her heart still hammered in her chest, warning her of the danger nearby. She shut her eyes hard for a second, another tear fell from one of them and ran down her cheek silently. Angelus suddenly had the urge to step closer to her, to wipe that single tear off her cheek, to run his hand down her face as he had when she had been sleeping. Before his hand could get too far away from him, Angelus stopped himself. Buffy's eyebrows furrowed quizically as she took in what he had been about to do.

No, she reminded herself. He's Angelus still--the vampire who is murdering your friends, who is stalking and torturing you. Angel is gone.

"I'm going to kill you," Buffy stated simply. She watched as Angelus simply stared at her, her words seeming to have no effect.

"Try." The single word hit Buffy hard. She would have to _try_ to kill him. It wasn't a nightly patrol, it wasn't a simple fledgling who had just crawled from his own grave--it was Angel. Her Angel, and she would have to try to see if she could beat him. There were no guarantees. Slayers lived short lives, and this could be the end of hers.

She suddenly found herself horrified. She couldn't fight him tonight, not after what he had just put her and her friends through. She needed to be there for Giles. She hadn't even had the chance to see her Watcher yet. How would he manage if she tried to fight Angelus tonight and lost? He would be burying the two people who meant the most to him at the same time. Buffy couldn't do that to him. She needed to get away from Angel for tonight. She couldn't fight him, she couldn't risk what it would do to her Watcher, to her friends.  
She took a tentative sideways step toward the door. Angelus stayed where he was, simply watching her. She took another one, this time a larger step, but now Angelus followed her, countering her step with one of his own. He wouldn't let her just walk away, she realized with a sinking feeling. She fought back another tear. She just couldn't fight him tonight--she couldn't.

All she had to do was convince him to save it for another night.

It was the last thing she wanted to do of course, to ask him for anything. She gave orders, she was the Slayer, and yet she was about to ask her enemy for a raincheck on their fight. Or maybe...she might be able to make it to the door before he could stop her. He was no longer welcome in her home--he wouldn't be able to get to her once she was inside. The problem was that it would make a scene. She didn't want Giles to know that Angelus was even there. Her Watcher would try something stupid, and he would get himself hurt or even killed. Buffy couldn't lose him, and she definitely couldn't bear to put him through any more pain tonight. Seeing Angelus would bring the whole memory of seeing Jenny dead back to him, and Buffy wouldn't do that. If she could just get inside quietly, then she could go to Giles. She would have the night to spend with her friends, with Willow and Xander and Cordelia. She needed the night.

"Going somewhere, lover?" Angel asked, taking another step that put Buffy even further away from her home.

"Please," she said quietly, "not tonight, Angel. Save it for another night." Inside, she was screaming. She wanted him to get the hell away from her. How dare he take someone who was close to her and then not give her the night to grieve. That wasn't fair. That wasn't playing by the rules.

Angelus cocked his head at the Slayer curiously. She was asking him to put off the fight. Funny. He hadn't even gone there to fight with her, he had just felt himself drawn to her, to see her pain and her suffering first hand, to smell her salty teardrops as they fell from her eyes. Her pleading with him just made the night all the more interesting.

He took a deep and unnecessary breath. "Slayer," he began. "Are you scared? You don't want to fight?"

"I will kill you you bastard," she said harshly in response. "Just...not tonight." She looked down slightly, her fists now completely unclenched, her hands loose and weak at her sides. Before she knew it, Angelus was in front of her, inches away from her, but she didn't move. She held her ground. He wasn't going to attack, she told herself. She wasn't sure how she knew it, but she could tell that he hadn't come here to fight. Let him play his mind games on her, as long as it meant she got to go inside when all was said and done.

"That's an insult," he breathed quietly, inches away from her face. "Why put off for tomorrow what you could get done tonight, Slayer? That is, if you think you can still do it."

Buffy looked up into his eyes. He was still so incredibly Angel, not Angelus. His eyes were Angel's and his face was Angel's. It was unnerving, and against her will, Buffy found herself shuddering.

Angel raised a hand slowly. He knew that moving too quickly would set the Slayer off, and he honestly didn't want to fight anymore. He hadn't even wanted to confront her, but he had anyways. He raised his hand to her face to wipe away a falling tear, but before he could touch her, she backtracked. She was now two full steps away from him, and two full steps further from her home, her safety.

Angelus sighed loudly. Then he had an idea. Why not play with her head a little bit tonight? He didn't want to fight her, but that didn't mean he couldn't still have some fun with her before he let her go inside, saving the real fight for a different night. He smiled slightly, and looked her in the eye.

"I'll make a deal with you, Slayer," he said quietly, getting her attention. "We won't fight tonight. I'll let you go back to your friends, your Watcher, your mother, without a problem. We'll save it for a different night when you're...feeling more up to it. I'll even promise to give both you and them a full week to recover from your...unfortunate loss. Even I understand the need to grieve." Buffy narrowed her eyes at him.

He smiled slightly at her. He knew what he wanted in return.

Unfortunately, he also knew that it was very unlikely that Buffy would give it to him. He would try though. If anything, the request itself would play with her head enough to satisfy Angelus.

"And..." Buffy prompted, clearly fed up and annoyed. She wanted to be inside, away from him. Not outside making deals with the devil.

Angelus stepped closer to her, close enough to where he could almost whisper in her ear.

"Undo the spell you and Willow did for your bedroom. Take the cross down from the window. Just for your bedroom, Slayer. You can keep the rest of the house safe and secure. No one will have to know, and mommy will be safe." Buffy brought a hand up quickly and hit him across the face.

Angelus simply laughed, one hand going up to touch the area where she had hit him.

"I thought you didn't want to fight tonight, Buff. Fine, let's make alot of noise, we'll get everyone out here. Mommy can find out about all your vampire issues, and Giles can have his chance to fight me...to make me pay for what I did to his precious computer teacher. Wonder how long he'll last?" Angel smiled slightly.

"You're sick," Buffy said, a look of disgust crossing over her face.

"Just your bedroom, lover. All you have to do is take the crosses out of your room, and that's enough to just undo the spell in your bedroom. Like I said, no one has to know."

"Why?" Buffy asked, confusion and revulsion showing in her face.

Angelus shrugged. "I like watching you sleep."

Buffy narrowed her eyes at him again, her mouth twisted in disgust.

"I'll kill you if you ever enter my room."

"Like I said, you can try." Angel smiled again, and took a step out of her way, giving her an almost clear path back to the house.

"What's it gonna be Slayer? Either I move now and I see you tonight, or we fight now and maybe end this once and for all. Either way, it's gonna be fun. It's your choice."

Buffy stared at him incredulously for a long moment. Then she shook her head in defeat.

"Whatever, just get out of my way. She started to walk past him, only slightly nervous to turn her back on him in order to walk to the house, but he grabbed her arm as she walked by him, turning her to face him.

"Is that a yes?" he asked, holding her arm tightly.

"Yes," Buffy grunted, as she yanked her arm out of his hold and moved her other hand to rub the area he had grabbed. She turned her back on him again, conscious of every sound that he made behind her, making sure that he didn't attack her while her back was turned.

"Good," Angelus called from behind her, before turning around and heading back into the woods behind her house. "Then I'll see you tonight."


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you SO much for the reviews I have gotten...seriously, they make me want to post more often and write more! And also, please let me know how you are feeling with where the story is going...I've already got chapters written, but I always want to know if you think it's going in the right direction..or if you think a character is just completely off or something. Thanks again! I will try and do regular posts for everyone...!

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Buffy had somehow managed to put her meeting with Angelus out of her mind for the rest of the night. She spent the time with her friends and her mother. They sat silently for a while around the kitchen table, before Joyce had finally declared that she was going off to bed to give the kids and Giles some time to themselves. But even after she had left, the room stayed as quiet as ever. It seemed that no one had any words to really describe the situation or to even talk about it. They simply sat in each other's company, grieving together. Eventually, they all went their separate ways. Cordelia drove Xander and Willow home, and Giles left to return to his apartment, where the police had finally finished collecting evidence and had taken down the crime scene tape.

It was almost three in the morning when Buffy finally returned to her room, only to be reminded of her deal with Angelus.

So what if she didn't take down the cross? she asked herself as she looked at the two crosses that now hung in her room--one located beside the window, the other by the door, the two entrances into her bedroom. It wasn't like Angelus played by the rules, she thought.

Even if he did, it wasn't like there were any real warfare rules when concerning the dealings between vampire and Slayer. Buffy changed into an oversized, comfortable black t-shirt to sleep in, while she still considered her situation. Angelus was right, he wouldn't be able to enter any of the other rooms in her house, only the one where she took down the defenses, the crosses. Still, she couldn't bring herself to bear the thought of welcoming him back into her bedroom, even if he had been in there on his own account recently, watching her sleep and drawing pictures of her, leaving her creepy envelopes to wake to the next morning.

Finally, just before she turned out the light and crawled into bed, she removed the cross from the window, allowing him only slight access into her room. He wouldn't even be able to go too near to her bedroom door as long as the cross was still hanging beside it, protecting the rest of her house from him. She shook her head at the insanity of what she was doing. Atleast she knew that he wouldn't be killing her in her sleep or attacking her in the night. He had already been in her room while she was sleeping plenty of times, as scary as that thought was. He enjoyed a good fight too much to take advantage of the Slayer like that, Buffy knew. She would, however, sleep as lightly as she could. It really creeped her out to think of anyone watching her sleep, especially her ex-lover turned evil.

As wrong as it felt to have the cross gone, she knew that she had done the right thing for her part. She had made a deal with Angelus, and he had held up his part, letting her return to her friends and giving them time to grieve.

She had convinced herself that she would sleep lightly, that she would easily wake to the sound of her window opening or to the sound of someone climbing into her room. She didn't want to be taken by surprise by him in case he decided to show. She wouldn't put herself at risk like that...deal or no deal. However, her attempting to sleep lightly caused her to have a troubled sleep. She was plagued with dreams filled with random noises: creaking houses, squeaking doors, noises that made no sense to her at all and that seemed to come from nowhere. She could feel the sheets beneath her as she tossed and turned in her sleep, could feel her blankets tangle from her turning.

She didn't hear her window being quietly opened an hour or so before dawn, nor did she wake to the quiet, graceful sounds that were made by the man climbing through the window. She did feel the bed give beneath the weight of someone much larger than herself, someone much stronger. She felt it in her half sleep, and she subconsciously rolled toward the body that weighed down one side of her bed.

In her dream, her whole house tilted, causing her to roll to her other side and bump against something cool and hard. A hand came down and touched her face gently, and she opened her eyes to see her mother sitting beside her, telling her to sleep. She blinked once, and it was Giles, telling her that Jenny was okay, and she should get her rest. Finally, she blinked again, and the face that she saw this time caused her to put her hand over his on her cheek. She felt the familiar Claddaugh ring on his finger, and subconsciously recalled her own Claddaugh ring stored in one of her drawers. The man with his hand on her face let out a small laugh as Buffy's hand touched his, and with that laugh, everything came back to Buffy. She was supposed to be paying attention, waiting and watching for something...someone...she hoped wouldn't come. At that second she realized that the familiar face she was looking into wasn't really the familiar face she had thought she was looking at. Angrily, she grabbed his hand off her face and threw it back at him.

"Get out," she ordered calmly, opening her eyes wider so that she could fully wake up. Her dreams had tricked her. She had seen Angel, her Angel, but of course it couldn't be her Angel. Her Angel was gone, lost, and sitting in front of her was the monster she had been trying to arm herself against in her dreams.

"You invited me," he said with a small, satisfied smile. He looked down at her body. She had tossed and turned in her sleep until the sheets were twisted underneath her. She wore a long black t-shirt that was, Angelus noticed with satisfaction, one of his own shirts. One that he had left at her house when he still had a soul. It had risen up on her in her troubled sleep, and he briefly caught a glance of her green underwear. When she noticed where his eyes had gone to, she pulled the shirt over her quickly and gathered the covers around her. She was fairly certain he hadn't come to fight, but once again, just as it had earlier in the night, it felt incredibly strange to sit next to her biggest enemy and not be in a fighting stance.

"What do you want?" she asked, her voice a whisper. She most definitely did not want her mother coming in while Angelus was sitting in her bed. Buffy realized what the cold, hard thing she had bumped into in her dreams was, and she noticed where her side and her leg touched Angelus' side. She shifted away from him uncomfortably. "Why do you keep doing this?" she asked, angrily yet quietly, her teeth clenched in frustration.

"I like watching you," he said simply, with almost a boy-like shrug.

"You can't do this," Buffy said desperately, looking into his eyes as she did. She was certain that Angelus knew just how he was making her feel by being in her room with her. She couldn't look at him any longer. She couldn't stand to see someone she loved so much be someone completely different. She wanted it all over. She wanted it done. Without hesitation, she reached around the side of her bed and felt where her mattress met her bed frame. She had prepared for this. After Angelus had left her the first picture of her sleeping, Buffy had decided that she needed to be prepared.

She found the hard stake that stuck slightly out from the side of her mattress. She pulled it out swiftly, and with the strength and agility of a Slayer, she aimed directly for Angelus' heart. She let out a groan of exertion as he caught her wrist in midair and struggled with her arm and the stake, turning it so it wasn't pointed at him.

"I thought...we had...a truce," he grunted, while working to push her arm away from him. He gained the advantage over her and slammed her hand into her bed frame, knocking the wooden weapon out of her grasp. In a quick maneuver, he had both her hands pinned to her side. Buffy started to thrash around, working to get advantage over him.

Angelus let out a small, "Shhh." Buffy stopped for a slight second and looked at the position they were both in. He still wasn't attacking her, she noticed. He was simply taking the defensive.

"Get the hell off me," she said, her voice rising.

"Shh, Buff. Come on now, your mom's sleeping. How do you think she'd feel if she found me in your bedroom this late at night? How would you explain that?"

Buffy quieted. Unfortunately, he was completely right. Her mom couldn't know that he was in her room, especially not after Buffy had told her about them. Well, Buffy had half told her mom about Angel. Either way, it wouldn't be good if she woke Joyce up.

"Get your hands off of me then," Buffy said in a deadly whisper.

Angelus looked down at Buffy, an evil smile playing on his face. "I don't know, love. We're in kind of an interesting position." He looked up and down at her only half-dressed form.

"You are seriously, _seriously_ sick!" she spat at him, still whispering.

"I know, and thanks," he replied. "Now, I'll let go, if you won't go nuts on me, got it Slayer? We're both civilized here. No need for fighting."

"Fine," Buffy consented. She relaxed her arms, and when she did so Angel's hold on her wrists disappeared.

"Since we're so freaking civilized, can you tell me what the hell you want? You want me dead; you can't just be coming in here to watch me sleep," she said.

Angelus considered her for a moment. Finally, he swung his legs up on the bed, relaxing back against the head rest and turning to look at the Slayer, who was staring at him with surprise in her eyes.

"I dunno," he said honestly. "I find it oddly interesting, though."

"Well, I don't," she said. "You got to watch me sleep for tonight, but you need to move your freaky obsession onto someone else. Next time we fight, I'm kicking your ass straight back to hell."

Angelus laughed, something that Buffy was beginning to find very annoying. He was just so freaking laid back, sitting comfortably on her bed talking to her, as if it were Buffy and Willow having a sleep over and talking about boys.

"I have a week by the way," he said nonchalantly.

"What the hell do you mean you have a week?" Buffy asked, scooting as far away from him as was possible in her bed. She didn't want him to get any ideas about how she was enjoying what he probably considered to be their little bonding moment.

"I told you I'd give you and your friends a week to grieve, mourn, cry, moan, whatever. That means that I have one week in which to make use of this open window policy we've got going."

Buffy snorted. "Ahh, no," she said sarcastically. "You have nothing."

"Fine," Angelus said, resting his head against one of his hands. "Then I start picking your friends off one by one. Maybe I'll go alphabetically...or backwards. Willow, Xander, Xander, Willow--shouldn't make much of a difference. Should be pretty easily actually, considering how easy that teacher was..."

Buffy brought back one elbow and slammed it hard into his ribs. Angel actually doubled over, one hand clutching his side, and let out a surprised cough.

"You won't lay a hand on them," Buffy said, enjoying the pained look that she had put on his face.

He looked up at her, one hand still clutching his bruising side and brought his free hand up and hit her hard across the face. Her hand instinctively reached up to where she could already feel a small bump forming under her eye. It took a lot to make the Slayer swell.

"Don't touch me again, Slayer, or we can have it out right here in your bed, and if I win in here...well, you won't like where that might lead." Angel stared at the effect his words had on her. "Mommy wouldn't want to walk in on that either would she...?"

Buffy's eyes slightly widened as she thought about how much this thing with Angelus was affecting her life, her family, her friends.

"See, that's the thing, Buff," he told her. "You still aren't completely sure if you can take me or not. For the first time, you might not be able to win. You're good, yeah, but you know that I might just be better." Angel shook his head, impressed with himself for a finding a way to get into the Slayer's head.  
"So here's the deal," he continued. "I don't know why I enjoy these nightly rendezvous we have here, but I do, and thankfully when you live forever, you have the time to explore whatever passions you may develop. Right now, Slayer, you're on the top of my list. So you keep the window open, and I don't kill your friends...for now. Giving you a little more time to figure out how to kill me, and giving me a little more time to...explore my passions. As long as we work with each other, you won't have to bury anyone else anytime soon. The second I become uninvited, I start killing people." Angelus smiled, pleased with his idea.

"I don't let vampires call the shots," Buffy said.

"Not even to keep your precious loved ones safe?" he countered, crossing his arms and staring at her more intently. Then he leaned closer to her. He put one hand against her hair, pushing her closer to him so he could whisper in her ear. She flinched slightly, but moved with him.

"Come on, Slayer. I won't bite...yet," he whispered.

Buffy pushed him away from her and pulled the covers around her even more tightly. She couldn't believe what she was about to do. How had she gone from fighting vampires to making deals with them? And yet, Angelus' deal made so much more sense. She could possibly deal with him, maybe she could even deal with her feelings toward him, despite the fact that her Angel was gone, but she couldn't deal with her own problems while trying to protect her friends from him. _That_ was what exhausted her. She couldn't protect everyone all the time. It was impossible, and Angelus' deal _made sense_. This way, he would stay away from her mother and her friends, giving her the ability to deal with him on her own time.

"Fine," she agreed simply. She glared dangerously at him. "But the second you lay a hand or threaten any of them, I don't even care if it's Harmony, I take you down. You got that?"

Angel nodded. "Done."

"That includes Spike and Dru, or any of your other vampires," Buffy added quickly as an afterthought.

"Hey, I don't control what anyone else does," Angelus said, his hands rising in the air in defense.

"Bull," Buffy argued. "You tell them to leave everyone alone or the deal's off."

Angelus smiled again. The Slayer was learning to compromise. "Okay," he agreed. "I'll tell them."

Buffy nodded, pleased that she had remembered to throw that part in their deal.

"Now, can you get the hell off my bed and out of my room?" Buffy crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him.

"I still have a little bit until the sun comes up, Slayer," Angelus said, smiling at her again. "Why don't you sleep and I'll stay for a while. Keep an eye out, you know. Keep the things that go bump in the night away for a while?"

Buffy rolled her eyes at him. She couldn't go back to sleep with a vampire sitting next to her. Well, she thought, she could...or she could have with one vampire, but he was gone. The man sitting beside her was someone completely different.

"How do you expect me to sleep with you sitting there?" Buffy asked, annoyed. She really was tired. Two hours of sleep did nobody any favors, not even the Slayer.

"Close your eyes and think of happy thoughts," Angelus said with a smirk.

"How do I know you're not just waiting to kill me in my sleep?" Buffy asked, although she was pretty sure she already knew he wouldn't.

"I just don't roll that way, lover. I like my big conquests to go down with a fight. You should feel pretty lucky, actually. There are some people whose necks I'd just snap in their sleep, people who are inconveniences."

"And me?" Buffy asked, her eyebrows raised.

"You deserve a little more than that, Buff. When we're ready to fight, you'll see, but right now, I think we both know that we're just not quite ready."

Buffy nodded, actually understanding what he was saying. They were both fighters, even Angel had been a fighter, and fighters--true champions like themselves, whether they were champions of good or evil--played by rules. They respected their opponents, even if it was in a twisted way.

Buffy allowed herself to slide back down until she was lying back on her pillows, her head resting on them. She didn't trust him enough to turn away from him, and yet it felt so strange to close your eyes and fall asleep while the enemy watched you. She closed her eyes for a moment and listened. She wanted to hear every little sound that Angelus may make. She wanted to know what he was up to, what he was doing. After a few moments, she opened her eyes slowly, cautiously. He was still staring down at her, and when he saw her eyes open he gave her a small crooked smile, something that, with a pain in her heart, reminded her achingly of Angel, her Angel.

"Sleep, Slayer," he said quietly, as one hand moved down to gently trace her face.

Buffy shivered slightly, although she wasn't sure if it was from revulsion or something else that she just couldn't place. Then she closed her eyes again, allowing herself to drift into a real, deep sleep this time, instead of the half sleep she had been in earlier. Buffy shivered again as she drifted off, this time from her cold bedroom. She could feel the cool breeze that was coming in through the open window. She felt a slight shifting on the bed, and suddenly her covers were wrapped up around her, pulled up around her chin and tucked in at her sides, warming her. Then she was asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Buffy woke up the next morning feeling surprisingly rested. She instinctively felt the space beside her, to be certain that she was alone. Her fingers met the bed, and she breathed a sigh of relief. The sun was shining in through the window, warming her room. She got up and stretched, letting out a loud yawn as she did so.

She stopped midstretch as she saw the offwhite envelope that was sitting upright against her alarm clock on her bedside table. Her heart started hammering in her chest, with the fear of what she would find inside of it. She knew it was from Angelus, and she picked it up lightly, gently. She treated each one of his letters as a bomb, as a weapon that was just waiting to go off in her face. She never knew what he would be leaving her, and so everything she received from him was treated as dangerous. She opened it slowly, her fingers slightly trembling as she thought about the drawing that Angelus had made of Ms. Calendar and had left for Giles at his apartment.

On a single piece of paper was one word: _Tonight._ It was Angel's handwriting, Buffy would know it anywhere. She stuffed the folded piece of paper back into the envelope and crumbled it angrily. She tossed the crumbled up paper across her bedroom, where it landed in the trashcan. Buffy shook her head angrily. She had to make sure that none of her friends found out about what had happened the night before. Quickly, Buffy hung the cross back up beside the window. She felt guilty already, she noticed. She would take the cross down again that night, as long as Angelus kept his side of the deal, that was. Until then, it would hang safely beside the window, where she and Willow had hung it a week before.

Buffy dressed quickly and got ready for her day. She went downstairs and had breakfast with her mom before heading to the mall to meet Willow. It had been Joyce's idea. She had thought that it would be best to get the girls out of their houses and out into Sunnydale instead of holing themselves up on a beautiful Saturday. She said that it would help to get their minds off of what had happened the night before. But as Buffy and Willow wandered aimlessly from store to store at the Sunnydale mall, they realized that just getting out of their houses would not put Ms. Calendar's murder out of their minds. It was something too real, too personal to just try to forget about.

Xander and Cordelia met Buffy and Willow at the food court a few hours later. Willow and Xander had both gotten pretzels, yet neither of them could bring themselves to eat them. Cordelia was keeping herself busy by going through her day's purchases. Despite the fact that they were all trying to keep themselves busy, all four of them couldn't keep their conversations on anything but Ms. Calendar's death and Angelus.

"I'll kill him when I see him," Xander said angrily.

Buffy had allowed her mind to drift from their conversation, choosing to stare out into space contemplating her deal with Angelus instead, but Xander's words had brought her head back into the conversation.

"You won't go near him, Xander Harris," Buffy said sternly. "You try and do something stupid like that and you know you will end up getting yourself or someone else killed. And I refuse to bury any more of my friends."

"Fine," Xander consented. He knew Buffy was right. He was no match for Angelus--at all, _ever_. "But when you fight him...I get to be there in the background to taunt as you slay. Deal?"

Buffy smiled at her friend. "Deal," she agreed. She had been making deals alot recently, she noticed.

"It's just so...sad," Willow repeated for what seemed like the tenth time in the conversation. "Ms. Calendar made Giles so happy and now she's just...gone. I mean, people die all the time at Sunnydale, but Ms. Calendar's death just seemed so much more real."

Buffy nodded in agreement. There was something interesting about the fact that Ms. Calendar's death hit them so much harder than anyone else's death. Ms. Calendar had known Buffy's secret...she had been a part of their core group, and now she was gone forever. Buffy shook her head again as reality hit her for what must have been the millionth time that day. When had things her life gotten so complicated, so messed up? She couldn't remember the last time that everything had been simple, black and white, good and evil, vampire and Slayer. What she was going with Angelus was hitting her hard, and she really hadn't even done anything. She was trying to keep her friends safe, something that they wouldn't understand even if she tried to explain it to them.

Protecting them was what was the hardest, Buffy noticed. She could protect herself. She could deal with her feelings toward Angelus on her own, but when she was responsible for the lives of so many others, her life became too complicated, too difficult. She didn't have the power or the strength to protect everyone she loved. What her friends didn't understand was that Jenny's death was Buffy's fault. It was because of her, the _Slayer_, that Ms. Calendar had been murdered. Buffy simply couldn't accept that kind of responsibilty anymore. She wouldn't be able to live knowing that it was because of her that someone else died, and anytime Angelus hurt anyone, Buffy would be responsible.

"Buff? Buffster!" Xander waved a hand in front of Buffy's face. "Earth to Slayer..."

"Sorry," Buffy snapped back to attention as Xander's voice brought her back to reality once again. "What were you saying, Xan?"

"We were wondering if you were doing the Slaying thing tonight," he repeated.

"Oh," Buffy said in surprise. She hadn't even thought about slaying since Jenny's death, but of course she would do it. It was what she did, and truth be told, Buffy needed the slaying. It kept her sane.

"Yeah, I guess I am," Buffy answered him.

"Want us to come with?" he asked her, motioning to him, Willow, and Cordelia.

"Whoa, whoa mister," Cordelia interrupted before Buffy had a chance to answer. "I'm not showing up in any cemetaries anytime soon. Call me superstitious or paranoid or whatever, but I'm staying safe in my Angelus-is-not-invited bedroom."

Buffy gave Cordelia a friendly smile.

"That's fine Cordelia. Really, Xander, Willow, I'm good going on my own if you two would rather not. I understand."

"No, Buffy, we really want to go," Willow said encouragingly. "We just...kind of wanted to all stay together for a while. You know, while you slay. Not that Xander and I can do much against a vampire, but...just to make sure that everyone is okay."

"That's sweet, Will," Buffy said seriously. She was honored to have such caring, protective friends. Even if their protectiveness would probably put them in danger.

"Great. So we meet you in front of Sunnyhell HS at...say midnight?" Xander asked Buffy.

"Sure." Buffy smiled as she looked around at her best friends. "Sounds great guys, thanks."

* * *

Buffy waited out in front of the school for her friends that night at midnight. She had come prepared--a bag full of stakes and crosses hung off one shoulder--and she was dressed in her best slaying gear. She was really hoping for a good fight with some vamp or demon tonight--she needed a release from everything that had been happening.

Buffy bounced up and down on her heels as she waited for her friends to show. Despite her deal that would keep her friends safe, she still found herself worrying about them. There were just so many things that came out at night in Sunnydale. Buffy smiled in relief as she saw Willow and Xander's forms approaching the school from a distance. She ran to close the distance between them.

"Hey guys," she said cheerily, handing them each a stake and cross from her bag.

"Well aren't you Miss Slay-Gal tonight?" Xander observed, taking his freshly sharpened stake from Buffy and pocketing it. "All ready for patrol then?"

"Yep," Buffy said with a smile. "I'm ready to kick some baddy-ass tonight."

The trio headed across Sunnydale into one of the larger cemetaries. Buffy was careful to lead the way so that she could spot any dangers before they got too close to her friends.

She halted them in their tracks after a few minutes of patrolling the first cemetary.

"What is it Buff?" Xander asked, peeking out from the side of her, straining his eyes to see what she apparently saw.

At that moment, Buffy pushed him out of the way as a newly-turned vampire lunged at his throat. Buffy knocked the vampire over quickly, but he rolled away from her before she could stake him.

"Morning, sleepy head," Buffy said sarcastically as she ducked to avoid a punch the vampire threw at her. The middleaged man growled loudly at her, annoyed that he couldn't smash his fist into her. Buffy caught his second punch in midair and used her weight to throw him over her. He landed hard on his back, and Buffy took advantage of his position on the ground. She quickly closed the distance between them and plunged her stake through the fledgling's heart. A second's confusion crossed his face before he disappeared into dust.

Buffy picked up her stake and went to make sure her friends were alright. Just as she stood, she heard clapping coming from the woods to her right. Her head turned quickly to see where and from who the noise was coming from. A shadow of a man appeared out of the woods, walking toward the Slayer and her friends.

"Guys," Buffy called to her friends, hurrying to stand in front of them. To her right, the clapping grew louder.

"Nice job, Slayer," the familiar voice called. The shadow suddenly turned into a familiar figure, and Buffy knew at once who it was. Inside, she groaned.

Angelus crossed the cemetary and stood before the Slayer and her friends.

Xander's fists clenched at his sides, and Buffy noticed his breathing quickened. She put a hand on his arm, attempting to calm him down.

"I think you need to leave," Buffy told him seriously. She didn't trust Xander around Angelus just then, and she didn't trust Angelus around her friends ever, deal or no deal.

"Now, now Buff. I just wanted to play," Angel said, a small smirk playing on his face.

"Go to hell," Xander bit out angrily.

"You had best control your boy there, Slayer," Angel warned Buffy. Buffy's grip on Xander's arm tightened, and she looked up to get Xander's attention. When he finally turned to look into Buffy's eyes, her warning was clear. His fists unclenched slightly. Buffy moved her hand.

She turned away from her friends and took a step toward Angelus, facing him.

"Don't," she mouthed silently to him. She didn't understand what he was doing. She had figured he would keep the deal, considering it had been his idea from the beginning. He simply smiled at her. Then, he lunged.

Their fight was evenly matched at the beginning. But then again, Buffy had the strange idea that Angelus was holding back. His hits weren't as hard, his kicks weren't as strong. But their fight intensified as it wore on.

Buffy jumped to avoid a well-aimed kick from Angel. She threw a punch, hitting him hard across the face. She could tell that it her fighting back had angered him. A moment later, he lunged at her with all his strength. Eventually, one of his punches hit its mark. Buffy had been unable to block it, and the sheer force and power of it threw her backwards. She clutched her chest where the punch had landed. Her breathing became ragged and short, and she realized that he just may have broken one of her ribs. Still, she stumbled forward, attempting to get back into the fight. Angelus grabbed her by the shoulders and brought his knee up to hit her hard again and again in her chest. She fell over after he released her, clutching her side in pain.

"Buffy!" Willow screamed, racing to her friend's side. Xander was not far behind her. He fumbled in his back pocket for the cross Buffy had given him. He had it up in Angelus' face before the vampire had the chance to get to Buffy again.

"Leave," Xander said through gritted teeth.

Angelus simply smiled at the boy and turned his back on the Slayer and her friends as he disappeared back into the woods.


	4. Chapter 4

First, thanks SO SO much for the reviews... seriously! They really help me out and kinda help me direct where the story is going to go... Just so everyone knows- I don't like plot out stories or anything. Basically, I write a chapter and see where it goes, then I spend whatever free time I have the next day going through in my head what could happen. So basically, your reviews help shape the story :) Hope you're still liking it so far. I've been kind of busy lately so I don't have many chapters ready to go up after this one, but I promise I'll work on it soon! It just might take a little bit longer for the next update... Anywayss, enjoy!

* * *

Buffy was still having difficulty breathing when she climbed back up to her room that night. Xander and Willow had offered to stay with her for the night, to make sure that she was alright, but Buffy couldn't be with anyone. She needed to be alone, to take a good look at her injuries. She was pretty sure Angel had broken a few of her ribs. She closed the door to her bedroom and took off her shirt. Standing in her bra in front of her mirror, she turned in order to get a better view of her injuries. Her side was black and blue already. She grimaced as she thought about the way Angelus' knee had crushed into her side. They had had a deal, Buffy thought angrily. She had really thought that he would abide to it. And yet, he hadn't killed her. He could have killed her, Willow and Xander that night, and he hadn't. She shook her head again at the insanity of the situation. Angelus really was as insane as everyone claimed he was. There was no reasoning to any of his actions, she noticed. He simply did was he pleased. Buffy pulled her shirt back over her head, wincing as she lifted her arms above her head and went to get ready for bed.

A few minutes later, Buffy closed her bedroom door and moved back toward her bed. She had put on a loose shirt and boxers. She was hoping that her injuries would heal pretty well in her sleep. She would have loved to put some ice on her broken ribs, but she couldn't risk the chance that her mother might wake up to the sound of Buffy going through the kitchen.

She sat down, wincing hard as she did so. She was so ready for the comfort of her bed. Just as she moved to lie down, there was a sharp tap on her bedroom window. The sound surprised her, and she turned too quickly toward the window. She let out a small cry of pain and her hand shot to her side. The sudden movement had seriously hurt her injuries. She looked to the window, still holding her side.

Angelus was perched out on her roof, waiting, watching her. Buffy shook her head, disbelieving what she saw. Was he serious? He really was just there to torture her, she realized. She got up from her bed slowly, one hand still clutched at her side, and crossed her bedroom to her window. She raised it slightly, wincing again at the pain that shot through her side as she tried to lift the window.

"Buff," Angelus greeted her as if they were old friends. "You're not looking so well," he observed, looking her up and down.

"What the _hell_ were you thinking?!" she exclaimed angrily at him. Then she bit back her anger, checked herself, and lowered her voice. "I thought we had a deal."

"We did," he agreed, putting one hand on her windowsill and looking more closely at her. "And we still do, Slayer. As long as you move that cross so that I can come in."

Buffy leaned against the side of the window to steady herself.

"You beat the shit out of me tonight, Angel," she said through clenched teeth.

"Ah, but that wasn't part of the deal. I agreed to not lay a hand on any of your friends. I did not agree to keep my hands off of you." He looked her up and down. "Besides, tonight was just a test run. One day soon, we'll do it where we finish the job at the end. Tonight, I let you go easy."

Buffy closed her eyes tightly as another wave of pain shot down her side. It seemed to get worse with each breath she took. Angel said he let her off _easy._ She had to get stronger, she reminded herself. When that final fight came, she had to beat him.

"Now," Angelus continued, gesturing to where he knew the cross was hanging. "Cross?"

Buffy considered what she was about to do. Unfortunately, as much as it literally pained her to admit, he was being truthful about the deal. The deal had been about her friends and her mom, not about her. He could have killed both Willow and Xander that night, but he hadn't. Buffy tried to take another deep breath, but had to steady herself again in order to do so.

"Besides," Angelus said. "I brought gifts." He held up a small, plastic grocery bag. Buffy looked at it quizically. What the hell was she doing? she asked herself again.

"What?" she asked him incredulously.

"Trust me, Slayer, after tonight, you're going to want these," he said, gesturing to the bag again. "Now, cross," he ordered.

Buffy eyed him nervously. She would have no way of protecting herself tonight. She was too injured to fight him off in case he attacked her.

Angel seemed to know what was holding her back. He held up two fingers in a boy scout's pledge. "I promise I won't hurt you anymore...tonight."

Buffy was tired, and she was tired of talking to him. All she wanted to do was climb into her bed and rest her aching body. She could barely breathe standing up as it was. Finally, she reached up and grabbed the cross from its hook. She tossed it on the carpet and turned her back to the window. She made her way back to her bed as she listened to the slight thump that Angelus made as he climbed into her bedroom. Buffy sat back down on her bed, her back still to him. She was too tired, was in too much pain to even bother with worrying about having her back to him.

She listened to him as he crossed the room and stood before her. She looked at him curiously as he sat on the bed beside her, setting the plastic grocery bag down on the floor in front of him.

Buffy gestured to the bag. "Snack for later?" she asked.

"Nah," he replied. He reached down for the bag and then dumped it out on the bed beside them. Buffy's eyes widened in surprise and confusion as she noted what he had brought. Two ice packs and a variety of first aid tape and bandages were sitting on her bed next to her.

Angelus looked at the defeated Slayer. He smiled slightly as he thought about their fight earlier. Then his brow furrowed as the memory of her ribs cracking against his knee came back to his mind. He wasn't even sure why he had done it at the time, it just felt like the right thing to do. Just like helping her put ice on her injuries felt like the right thing to do now.

"Shirt," he said. He smiled as she gave him a wary look.

What the hell, Buffy thought. She reached down and pulled her shirt up and over her head. Her face twisted into a mask of pain as her arms went above her head to pull it all the way off of her. Beneath the shirt, she wore a simple black sports bra. She pushed it up slightly on the side where her ribs had cracked.

Buffy's entire right side had already turned purple, Angelus noticed with a strange satisfaction. He reached down and touched the bruised skin gently. Buffy winced as his fingers contacted her side. He traced her skin gently before reaching for an ice pack. He wrapped it in a cloth and then set it against her side. Buffy let out a small gasp of pain as he pushed the ice pack against her ribs. After placing the other ice pack just below the first one, Angelus wrapped an ace bandage around the ice packs, securing them into place. He left one hand against the ice pack, while the other reached across the Slayer's slim body to grab the ace bandage. Buffy eyed him suspiciously but allowed him to continue. She let out a small sigh of relief when he had finally secured the bandage into place. The ice felt incredible against her bruised body.

"Better?" Angel smiled, noticing how the Slayer had relaxed.

"Hmm," Buffy answered, her eyes closing for a brief moment, enjoying the feel of the cool ice packs.

"You need to sleep," he told her. Buffy simply nodded in agreement. She was too tired and too hurt to even question why he was doing any of the things he was doing for her.

She tried to slowly lower herself down to a lying position, but gasped in pain again as she attempted it. Before she could protest, Angel had one hand wrapped around her back supporting her as she laid back. Then he moved to the other side of her bed and sat down beside her as she moved to a more comfortable position.

"You can't be here," she finally said after a few moments of silence. "You can't..." Buffy took a deep breath before she continued. "You could have killed me tonight."

"I didn't," Angel said calmly.

"Because of the deal..."

"Of course, because of the deal, Slayer. Why else would I?"

Buffy closed her eyes in frustration. What the hell was she doing with him? What was going on between them?

Inside, even Angelus was struggling with her questions. He wasn't sure why he was doing what he was doing. All he knew was that he didn't want the Slayer dead right now. He actually kind of enjoyed the time that they spent together, even if it was when he was kicking her ass.

"You have to get out," Buffy said angrily, sitting up slowly. She put a hand up to push him off of her bed. "The deal's off. This is over. I can't do this anymore."

Angel had pushed her back down against her bed in a second, and in her condition, it was impossible to fight him. He put one powerful hand on her injured side and squeezed hard. Buffy let out a cry of pain. Her hand reached out to grab his wrist and pull it off her side, but Angelus had already let go. Instead, he grabbed her hand in his and held it tightly.

"For tonight, I'm calling the shots, Slayer. In case you haven't noticed, you're just about completely beat down. I've been helping you out this far, but if you start getting crabby with me, that can all change pretty quickly." Angelus' face echoed his threat. To Buffy, he looked dangerous. She shook her head and squeezed her eyes closed tightly. She tried to take in a deep breath and found that it was impossible. The pain in her side was unbearable. She let out another small moan of pain.

She nodded her head in response to what he said. He moved one of his hands toward her, and Buffy flinched back.

"Shh," he quieted her again and pulled his hand back away from her, seeing how it was making her react.

"Just...don't," Buffy asked quietly. "Really...can't breathe." Angel could hear her shallow breathing. Her heart was thuddering unevenly in her chest.

He moved his hand toward her, gentlier this time, and pushed her hair out of her face. "Just breathe slowly," he told her gently. "Shh."

"Shh," Angelus quieted her again and sat beside her again comfortably.

Buffy turned on her side and pulled a pillow up against her chest. The coolness and softness of the pillow helped to make her throbbing side feel better, and she relaxed gently against it.

"There's my girl," Angelus said, noticing how her heartbeat was slowing back to normal and how her breathing had become less shallow.

_There's my girl._ His girl. Angelus' girl? Buffy's mind was spinning at his words. They brought back a flood of memories. She had been Angel's girl. _Angel's _girl. She squeezed her eyes shut again. She wanted to block all of it out--the pain of her injuries, the painful memories with Angel, the pain of having Angelus near her.

He cocked his head at her and regared her.

"You really don't get beaten down that often do you Slayer?" he asked her.

She shook her head in reply.

"You're not as tough as you look, you know," he commented.

Buffy wrapped her arms around her body tightly, protectively, and ignored his comment. She closed her eyes and tried desperately to block out the night.

"Are you just going to sit there all night?" Buffy asked him. Her eyes were closed, but she could feel that he was still sitting on her bed, probably still staring at her.

"Maybe," he answered. It was just two in the morning, and he still had hours before the sun would come up.

"Close the window on your way out," Buffy said quietly, pulling her body into an even smaller ball beneath the covers.

"Okay..." Angel cocked an eyebrow, surprised at the normal request she had given him.

"And no more of those little envelope things. I don't like them," Buffy told him.

Angelus nodded. "Agreed," he said. He looked down at the Slayer. He knew she would be in some serious pain in the morning. "Sleep now, Slayer," he told her quietly, and he felt her breathing slow to an even more stable rhythm as she drifted off into unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 5

Buffy had difficulty sleeping again. Every time she moved in her sleep her injured side would ache, and she would have trouble getting her breath again. Once again, her sleep was filled with confusing, nonsense dreams.

She was underwater, in a dark, cold place. She struggled to reach the surface so that she could breathe, but her legs wouldn't work. No matter how hard she kicked or how much she struggled, she couldn't swim to the surface. Even worse, something continued to poke out at her from the dark. Sharp, wooden pokes stabbed her continuously in her side, and she found that she had to focus more on defending herself from the pokes than attempting to swim to the surface. She could feel herself choking, could feel the pressure of the water against her sides and her lungs as her vision began to blur. No matter how hard she kicked, her body wouldn't move, and the pokes in her side were coming more often and much harder. Finally, in a last effort to avoid the attack and to rise to the surface, she kicked her legs out hard, hoping to strike her invisible attacker. She woke up suddenly when her foot made contact with something.

"Jesus, slayer!" Angelus was standing over her bed looking down at her. The moonlight shone in through her window, illuminating his face, which was twisted in confusion.

Buffy's eyes squinted in the darkness of her room to try and make out what had happened. She was covered in sweat. Her blankets had once again twisted their way around and underneath her, some of them even lying in a heap on her floor.

"Angel?" she asked quietly, her eyes still squinted.

"Angel's gone baby," Angelus said cruelly, a smile spreading across his face. "There's only me left now."

Buffy shook her head to shake the final images of her dream from her mind. Of course it was Angelus, she knew that.

"What...what happened?" she asked in confusion, wondering at the mess her bed had become.

"You kicked the shit outta your sheets, and ended up landing a violent blow on _me_," he explained. "Are you always this violent of a sleeper?" he asked jokingly.

"No..." Buffy answered, still confused by her dreams, by her nightmares. She was used to her Slayer dreams--they were usually the only ones she remembered. She hadn't had nightmares like these since before she was the Slayer.

"Sorry," she offered quietly. "I need..." she took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly, one hand going to her side.

"Here," Angelus said, holding out his hand. "Take these." He put two small, circular white pills in her open palm. She looked down at them curiously.

"What are these?" she asked. He could bandage her, fine, but there was no way she was going to start accepting drugs from the evil vampire.

Angel shrugged. "They'll help you sleep, and make that feel better." He gestured to her side. "Come on Slayer. You think I need to drug you to beat you? Last night was proof enough that that's not true." He gave her a small smile.

Buffy stared at the pills for a long time before looking up at Angelus again. What kind of mind games was he trying to play with her? Everything he was doing was throwing her off--from making the deal, to watching her sleep, to beating her up, and then bandaging the wounds he caused her.

Finally, Buffy put the pills in her mouth and tilted her head back, allowing them to slide down her throat.

Angel's lips turned up slightly. "'Atta girl, Slayer," he said approvingly. He moved back to sit on her bed.

Buffy eyed him suspiciously and scooted back down on her bed. She already felt her head clearing, she noticed, and the throbbing in her side was beginning to dull slightly.

"Those are...some pills," she said, as her eyes began to close.

Angel smiled again as the Slayer fell back asleep. He stayed to watch her as her breathing slowed. She was no longer tossing or turning, and her breathing was almost normal. He watched her for a few more moments and then climbed out her window silently, closing it on his way out.

* * *

"Angelus," Spike greeted his grandsire as Angelus entered the garden of the old mansion he had found for him, Spike, and Drusilla.

Spike was resting comfortably in his wheelchair, eyeing Drusilla carefully as Angelus approached her. Dru was on her knees in front of one of the trellises, gently touching each leaf that curved up and around the wooden frames.

"Haven't seen you around much lately, mate," Spike observed, watching even more closely as Angel stopped behind Drusilla and ran his hand up and down her back lightly.

"Yeah, well, I haven't been around much lately, Spikey," Angelus answered. "Figured you could keep up the responsibilities of our home and our girl now that you're just the wheelman." Angelus smiled at Spike as Dru stood up to turn and face Angel. Spike glared at the two of them dangerously. He had had more than enough of his sire and his grandsire's little relationship.

Dru put one of her hands and caressed Angelus' cheek, cocking her head to look more closely at him.

"Miss me, Dru?" Angel asked her with a wicked smile.

Dru considered him for a moment, tilting her head back and forth in front of him before answering. "There's been too much sunshine lately. It's blinding me so I can't see my boys...our family."

"Speakin' of sunshine," Spike began, wheeling himself so that he could be closer to Angel and Dru. He turned to Angelus again. "How's that little Slayer doin' now that you've been spendin' so much time with her?"

Angel gave Spike a dangerous smile.

"Watch yourself, boy," he warned Spike calmly. "That Slayer is my project now that she's successfully kicked your ass straight into a wheelchair."

"Maybe so," Spike agreed. "But atleast when I was fightin' her I wasn't wasting my energy leaving dead gag gifts in her friends' beds."

"Maybe you were out of touch," Angel said. He moved so that he was standing behind Drusilla. He put his hands around the front of her, pulling her closer to him so that Spike could get a better view. Angelus traced small patterns on Dru's chest. "Me, I have _just_ the right touch..." He smiled down at Spike.

Dru swayed back and forth in Angel's arms. "The sunshine's coming again," she murmered quietly. "And we'll all burn..."

"No, pet," Spike said soothingly. "We'll go in so the sun can't get us."

"But what if the castle crumbles and the princess has no protection?" Dru whined, turning to give Angel a worried look.

"Then someone will protect her..." Angel said seductively, caressing Dru's cheek with his hand.

"And the Slayer?" Dru asked, switching subjects quickly, in the way that she usually did.

Angelus growled loudly. "Leave the Slayer to me."

"You'll teach her? You'll teach her just like you taught me?" Dru singsonged in Angelus' ear.

"Yeah, Dru. I'll handle the Slayer."

"About bloody time," Spike said dryly from his chair.

"In the mean time," Angel stepped away from Dru quickly, causing her to step back to keep herself from falling. "There're a few new rules," Angel continued. "No one, and I mean _no one_ is to touch any of the Slayer's friends. If I hear that anyone, vampire, demon, or otherwise, has layed a hand on them, I will personally rip that person apart, and I do mean 'rip' in the most literal sense."

"You're certainly a selfish one, mate," Spike observed, turning his wheelchair and wheeling himself toward the mansion's door.

"I'm serious," Angel said. "You put out the word. The Slayer and her friends are mine and mine alone."

Dru smiled wickedly, humming a tune to herself. She danced in the moonlight.

"Inside, Dru," Angelus ordered suddenly. She stopped in midstep and rushed in, following Spike through the door. Angelus followed them as well, the scent of dawn sending him indoors.

* * *

Buffy went out for patrol earlier the next night and returned home only a few hours after the sun had set. She had school the next day, and, as much  
as she hated to admit it to herself, she wasn't feeling quite up to her usual Slayer standards. Her side still ached and, while fighting a newly borne vampire in one of the cemetaries, she discovered that she was much weaker than she usually was because of the injury. She kept it wrapped in the bandages that Angelus had brought her. Surprisingly, the wrap offered her a small amount of support, of comfort, and--Buffy was very grateful for this-- the bandage happened to protect her side a little better when the vampire she was fighting managed to land a punch on the injury.

Buffy rubbed it gently as she climbed back through her window. She was seriously not used to being so vulnerable, so weak. Halfway through the window, Buffy turned sharply to the night sky behind her. She let out an aggravated sigh when she saw who had startled her.

"Angelus," she said simply, as she climbed through the window the rest of the way into her bedroom.

He was perched on the edge of her roof, watching her sneak back in. He nodded his head at her in acknowledgment.

"Slayer," he replied.

Buffy wasn't sure why he had surprised her. Of course she should have expected him. He had been in her room the last few nights, and she suspected he would be there for the full week--the entire time their deal covered.

"You're home early," Angelus noted calmly as he followed her in through the bedroom.

He stopped just before the window, cocking his head at the Slayer.

"You didn't put the cross back up today," he noticed with a small smile.

Buffy shrugged. She had gone to her dresser and was pulling out her pajamas for the night. "So?" she replied. "It's not like you were going to be coming or going during the daytime anyway."

"Just making conversation, Buff. Geez." Angel narrowed his eyes at her as she rifled through her drawers.

"I don't need to make conversation with you, Angelus," she reminded him harshly. She found the boxers and tanktop she had been looking for, and, grabbing them in her hand, she turned back around to face Angelus.

"Can you like leave or something?" she asked him rudely, gesturing to her pajamas.

Angel's eyes went to her hand and then back to her body. She was wearing a dark pair of jeans with a faded black t-shirt on top. He let out a slight snort as he noticed the grass stain on her knee--from Slaying, obviously.

"Go ahead, Slayer," he dared her, looking her up and down again.

"Get the hell out of my room," she warned him again. "Our deal is for you to watch me sleep, _not _for me to give you stripteases at night." Her eyes glared dangerously.

Angel took a step closer to her. "We could...renegotiate..." Angelus said, a slight purr to his voice.

Buffy rolled her eyes. She could just give up and go into the bathroom to change, she realized. But it was against her Slayer nature to give in so easily to a vampire, especially one as messed up as Angelus.

She took a step toward him, making herself look as threatening as she could.

"Get. Out," she repeated.

Angel took two quick steps toward her, closing what was left of the gap between them. The corners of his mouth turned upwards slightly.

"Come on, Slayer. You know you want to, and you know...I wouldn't really mind watching."

"You're sick," Buffy said, refusing to back down.

"I know it, baby. But hey, the way I figure...you did it for Angel. Hell, you got the job _done_ when it came to Angel. Now look at me." Angel grabbed her under the chin and tilted her head up to him violently. "_Look at me_," he said, his face turning dangerous again. "I'm just like Angel..."

With that, Buffy had had enough. She brought back one arm and swung at him, as hard as she could.

Angel stumbled back slightly, but recovered almost immediately. He was back in front of her in half a second and had grabbed her by the arms. He pushed her back hard, causing her to knock backwards into her dresser.

"You wanna wake mommy?" he asked her, a cruel tone to his voice. "I don't touch you, you don't touch me. It's freakin' kindergarten, Buff. Now get with the program."

Buffy recovered as quickly as she could, given her injured side.

"Fine, Angel," she spat out. "_Angelus. _But I'm sorry I'm not _quite _as obsessed with you as you are with me."

Angel's face suddenly softened again, and his mouth returned to a small smile.

"Are you admitting you're obsessed with me?" His eyebrows went up seductively.

"Definitely..._not_." Buffy's head was spinning. Angelus seriously repulsed her, she realized. Everything he did went so against the things Angel did. They were such completely separate people, although they may share the same body.

She shook her head to clear it of thoughts of Angel. She was having to do that a lot lately now that Angelus was around, she noticed. She looked up at the vampire again. He was staring at her with that same seductive look he had been giving her. She was tired of arguing with him. She was so ready to go to bed by then that she didn't even care. Let him watch her change, she thought with a shrug. She knew she didn't care.

She turned away from him obviously and moved to the corner of her bedroom. She pulled down her jeans quickly and stepped into her boxers. She could feel Angelus' eyes burning into her back as she did so. Next, her shirt came off just as quickly and it was replaced with the soft t-shirt even faster. She turned around to give him a satisfied look.

"Feel better, Slayer?" he asked her with a grin.

She ignored his comment and moved to her bed, brushing past his shoulder as she did so.

She climbed into bed and pulled the covers up around her.

Angelus watched her climb into bed and then moved to the light switch in her room, flipping the lights off.

"Goodnight," he whispered from the shadows as Buffy's eyes closed.


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

Buffy stood in front of the girl's bathroom mirror. She squinted her eyes at her reflection, and then widened them again. After their last class of the day, Cordelia had cornered her by her locker and had begged her to buy some "real" concealer and to start using some more foundation. Then she proceeded to recommend several cream rinses that would "definitely maybe be the only chance to fix all those split ends." Buffy grimaced at the memory as she stared into her reflection. She looked a little rough around the edges, yeah, but that was only because she hadn't gotten as much sleep over the past week, with Ms. Calendar's death and with Angelus stalking her every move. All in all, Buffy thought she was looking pretty good considering.

Buffy spent a few minutes touching up on her foundation and reapplying her mascara. Running a hand through her hair quickly, she gave one final glance toward her reflection before turning away from the mirror. Whatever Cordelia would say, it would have to do.

Buffy left the bathroom and headed toward the library. She had gone there first thing that morning, only to find that Giles was completely MIA. She was hoping that he was going to make a late appearance or something. She needed to see him, to make sure he was okay. More importantly, it was vital that she made sure Giles wasn't up to anything stupid or dangerous. Willow and Xander were supposed to meet her in the library at the end of the day, and Buffy figured that if Giles hadn't showed up yet then atleast her friends could help her out.

Buffy pushed open the library doors to find Xander, Willow, and Oz sitting together at the long wooden table. Well, technically, Xander was sprawled across the top of the table, and Willow had made herself comfortable on her very-new and very-warewolfy boyfriend's lap.

"Hey guys," Buffy greeted as she walked in and approached the table. "Still no Giles?" She looked around the room for the familiar old Watcher.

"Nope, the G-man has yet to be seen," Xander said, propping himself up on the table to look at Buffy.

"I hope he's okay," Buffy said quietly, her voice echoing her concern about her Watcher.

"He'll be okay, Buffy," Willow said encouragingly. "I'm sure he's just working through some stuff. You know, some adult stuff, because well...Ms. Calendar was an adult...and they had adult feelings and...everything."

Buffy gave Willow a small smile. "You're probably right, Will. I just want to make sure he's staying out of trouble. I know what it's like to lose someone like that, and I don't want him to try to do anything too crazy."

At the mention of Buffy's loss, Willow and Xander shared an uncomfotable look that Buffy couldn't help but notice. She looked back and forth between her two friends.

"What?" she finally asked after a moment's silence.

Xander took a deep breath and looked at Buffy. "We know it's not really something you want to talk about, Buff, but me and Wills were just wondering if you had any plans."

Buffy stared blankly at him and then at Willow. "Plans for what?" she asked.

After another shared look, Willow spoke up. "Well, about Angelus, Buffy. He's got to be stopped. He can't be killing like he is."

Buffy's heart skipped a beat at Angelus' name. That was an interesting topic...one that she couldn't quite share with either of her two best friends. Neither of them would understand, especially not after Angelus killed Jenny.

"I know," Buffy said, trying to convince them that they were all on the same page. "I'm working on it, I just...need to be stronger." Buffy grimaced as she thought about her side and about the fading bruise that was still there.

"But Buff, you _are_ strong," Xander said seriously. "I mean, come on. You're seriously buff, Buff. You're like super-Buff. Angel's just another vampire, you should be able to take him."

Buffy shook her head as Xander was talking to her. "No, Xander. He's not _just_ another vampire. He's stronger. He's...smarter."

"We can take him, Buffy," Willow said, turning to look at Oz and Xander. "We can all help. We can figure out a plan or...or a strategy or something. We can beat him." Willow looked up at Buffy enthusiastically, obviously comfortable with the thought that two teenagers, a warewolf, and a Slayer could take one vampire.

"No," Buffy repeated again, shaking her head back and forth for emphasis. "You guys just don't understand. This isn't something we get to do together. It's something I have to be able to do on my own. I'm not ready yet. I can't do it. I'm not...not strong enough."

Xander stood up from the table quickly, startling Willow as he did so. "Well when will you bring strong enough Buffy?" he asked angrily. "When Angel comes and snaps my math teacher's neck? Or when he gets himself into my house and eats my parents? Will you be ready then? Because every minute you wait, someone else dies!"

Buffy was furious. She couldn't believe he was blaming it all on her. It was one thing for her to feel guilty on her own about everything that was happening. It was quite another for someone else, her _best friend_, to rub it in her face.

Willow noticed the tension, the hightened tempers. She stood up from Willow's lap and moved between Xander and Buffy. "What Xander means, Buffy, is just that we want to help. We want to make it easier for you."

"You can't "make it easier," Willow. You don't understand. I get that Angel's a threat and I...I want him gone as much as everyone does, but you can't just take him out. He's got too much protection, too much strength. You have to give me time to figure out how I can beat him. In the mean time, I'm doing my best to protect everyone."

"You can't protect everyone all the time," Xander interjected.

"I know that!" Buffy turned to look at Xander, who looked shocked at the force of her words. "I'm sorry," she added, softening. "It's just that...you guys act like I don't care, like I don't know what's going on. I _do_. You guys just have to let me take care of this this time. I'm the Slayer. It's my job."

Xander looked as if he was about to say something, but Willow stepped closer to him and put one hand on his arm, holding his words back.

"Okay, Buffy," Willow said in agreement. "We'll just give you time to figure out what you want to do."

Buffy nodded her head, knowing that her friends weren't happy with her. She turned to leave. "If Giles comes by, tell him I want to see him. Otherwise, I'll stop by his apartment later," she called over her shoudler as she pushed through the library's swinging doors.

Willow, Xander, and Oz shared looks after Buffy was gone.

"Well, that went well," Oz commented, looking at the library doors, which were still swinging back and forth.

"She needs time, I guess," Willow said, watching her friend walk down the hallways through the door's windows.

"Yeah, well the more time she takes, the more people that are _dead_," Xander said dryly, leaning back against the table again.

Willow closed her eyes tightly. She only wished that Buffy would be ready to take Angelus out soon...for everyone's sake.

* * *

Buffy decided to go over to Giles' apartment later that day. She had gone home for a while after school to attempt to get some homework done before realizing that she had too much on her mind to attempt to study. She would have called Willow to see if she wanted to study with Buffy later, but Buffy was more than a little annoyed at all of her friends for attacking her in the library earlier. Buffy rolled her eyes at the thought of it. What did they know? They had basically blamed Buffy for everything that had happened since Angel had lost his soul. Didn't they understand? Buffy already knew that she was responsible. Her entire life was centered around the fact that _she _was responsible for e_veryone all the time. _

Buffy grimaced at the thought of what she was doing to try and lessen some of the responsibility she had--the nights that she spent behind her friends' backs, allowing Angelus into her room, all in order to keep them safe. She turned the corner into the apartment complex that Giles lived in and tried to push the thoughts out of her head before she reached her Watcher's door. Somehow, she felt as if he would be able to see right through her, that he would know what she was doing. She wasn't even sure why she felt so guilty, so dirty about the whole deal, but she did, despite the fact that she was only going along with it in order to keep her friends safe.

She reached Giles' door and took a deep breath. The fact that Giles didn't show up to school that day made her nervous, and she was worried about the state she might find her Watcher in when the door was openned. Buffy knocked quickly and then took a step back, hoping he would answer. She really didn't want to have to break down the door to check on him. It wasn't like he was a child.

But Buffy was saved the trouble of kicking in the door when, a few minutes later, Giles answered it. He was, Buffy noted with relief, fully dressed in his usual kahki pants and dress shirt. His tie hung loosely around his neck, his glasses dangled from one of his hands.

"Buffy," he said, a small smile spreading across his face. "Lovely to see you, please come in." He stepped out of the way and motioned for Buffy to go in.

After Bufy was inside, Giles closed the door behind her and was surprised as Buffy threw her arms around him in an huge hug.

"Buffy...can't...really...breathe," Giles let out through her tight embrace.

Buffy's grip on him loosened immediately. She looked up at him sheepishly. "Oops. Sorry Giles. I'm just so, so happy to see you okay. We really missed you today back in Sunnyhell High." Buffy gave her Watcher a big grin.

"Yes, well. I had a few things to do around the house today and...frankly I just couldn't really see myself spending a day trying to keep busy in the library with so much on my mind." Giles frowned slightly and looked around at the books he had scattered around his apartment.

"I see..." Buffy said, scrunching up her nose at all of the books Giles must have been pouring over all day long. "What exactly has been keeping you so busy today?" Buffy asked as she moved to look at one of the open books sitting on Giles' desk.

"Oh, just some research," Giles said as he moved into his kitchen to take his steeping tea off the stove.

"Research about..." Buffy hesitated midsentence as she looked down at the book that was open before her. A sketch of a very familiar tattoo had been done on the page, along with paragraphs and paragraphs of hand written accounts about-- "Angel?" she asked, already dreading the answer.

Giles walked back into the living room, carrying a cup of steaming tea and a saucer. "About Angelus, yes," he answered her as he took a seat on the couch and motioned for her to join him.

"Giles," Buffy sat down next to her Watcher and looked at him seriously, "you're not considering doing anything...stupid...are you? Not that you're stupid, I just mean..." Buffy looked down as she considered how to address him without offending him. "It's just that...Ms. Calendar's death was tragic, Giles, and I know that you want revenge, but I know that you understand that, as the Slayer, it's _my _job to take care of vampires. Not anyone else's."

Giles stared down into his tea intently before turning back to Buffy. "I know, Buffy, and as the Slayer, you're quite capable of doing everything you need to do to defeat your opponents. Angelus is just...well he makes everything a bit more personal doesn't he? I know how hard it is for _you, _Buffy, and so I want to be able to help you in every way that I can. That's what all this research is about. I'm trying to study him...to learn everything we can about his patterns, his past. So that you can beat him."

Giles took a sip from his tea. "I know that you're the only one who can defeat him, Buffy. I just want to be there to back you as much as I can."

Buffy felt a wave of relief wash over her. So Giles wasn't going to do anything stupid, and he wasn't even pressuring her to kill Angelus immediately. He was just trying to support her. Buffy felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off of her.

"Thank you, Giles, and I promise, as soon as I am ready to deal with Angelus, I will. It's just...hard." Buffy gave him a sympathetic look. She knew it was hard for him as well, having lost Jenny to the monster who had once been Angel.

"You're doing a good job, Buffy. You really are, and you're making me very proud," Giles said seriously.

Buffy let out a small, happy sigh. She was so lucky to have Giles, she realized.

Giles continued, "So, are you planning on patrol tonight?"

Buffy refocused her attention on him. He was getting back to business. "Yeah, you know me, Giles. I'm patrol-girl."

"Good. Now, one thing I have noted from the texts I have found, is that Angelus is especially fond of stalking his victims. So during your next training session, I have plans to work on really knowing your surroundings, to sense when there is someone following you, or someone watching you from nearby. I think it may be essential to keep Angelus from blindsiding you by a surprise attack."

Buffy nodded her head in agreement. Giles had no idea how accurate he was. Angelus _definitely_ liked to stalk her.

"Alright, well then, if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to doing some more research. I'm also trying to contact a few old friends in England who may have some diaries on Angelus that I don't," Giles said, standing up from the couch. "I trust you can get Xander or Willow or someone to accompany you on a patrol tonight? I'd much rather you had someone who could help to watch your back."

Buffy followed him, standing up and walking toward the apartment door. "Yeah..." Buffy hesitated as she remembered the events that took place in the library and then changed her mind about bringing someone on patrol with her, "or you know, I think I'll be fine on my own. It's been really quiet lately, and I could do with some alone time for a night."

Giles' brows furrowed slightly at the thought of his Slayer being completely on her own while Angelus was loose and active, but then he shrugged. She was the Slayer, after all. There wasn't really much Xander or Willow could do if something got really ugly. Buffy was more than capable of handling herself while on patrol.

"Alright then," Giles agreed. "But you will definitely check in at the library in the morning?"

"You'll be back at school then?" Buffy asked, brightening at the idea of having an ally with her for the next time her friends decided to confront her.

"Yes, I think I've pretty much completed most of the research I need to do here. The rest I can do at school." Giles opened the door for Buffy and gave her a friendly smile.

"I'll see you then I guess," Buffy said, moving out into the sunshine. "And Giles," she added, turning back around to look at him. "Thanks."

With a smile and a nod that made Buffy feel as if everything would turn out okay, Giles closed the door.


	7. Chapter 7

Buffy went out on patrol alone that night, just as she had told Giles she was planning to. She still hadn't talked to any of her friends, although Willow had called her house almost seven times before Buffy finally had Joyce answer to tell her that Buffy wasn't home. Buffy knew that she was being childish, but she couldn't help it. Her friends just couldn't understand the way she was feeling, the way that she still felt about Angel, her Angel. Angelus walked and talked and looked like him. He smelt like her Angel, and he moved like her Angel. She just couldn't see how she could plunge a stake through the heart of someone she had cared so deeply about. She couldn't destroy him, destroy the only memory she had of him. She just couldn't.

Buffy entered the cemetary. Her black jeans made her legs seem as if they blended into the dark night, while her white tank top stuck out as brightly as the crescent moon did up above. She clutched a stake in her right hand loosely, swinging her arms back and forth as she walked, enjoying the cool night air on her skin. Her hair hung loosely on her shoulders and bounced against her back lightly as she walked.

Buffy closed her eyes for a second, trying to feel the world around her. She felt the wind rustling through the tree leaves, she could feel the earth give way slightly beneath her footsteps. She felt a flutter from a tree to her right, the sound of a bird landing and then taking off again, shaking the branch that it had been perched on. She heard a soft hoot coming from somewhere in the distance, the sound of an owl calling to some other creature, maybe hunting. Then she stopped for a second. She had heard something different, a sort of echo almost. Buffy closed her eyes again and began her walk. There was that echo again, she noticed.

It was slight, hardly obvious. A slight rustle in the grass lingered even after Buffy's feet had lifted from the ground. The beat of Buffy's walk was a pattern to her usually. She had spent many nights listening to it as she waited for a fight from some newly born vampire. Tonight, the pattern was off, was slightly different.

This was what Giles wanted her prepared for. This is where the training would come in handy. She needed to be able to feel her surrounding better, to sense whether her follower was friend or foe.

Buffy sped up slightly, hoping to draw her stalker out into the open a little bit more. She strained to hear the person who was following her. Rounding a tomestone suddenly, Buffy spun a quick half circle in order to face her follower. She almost groaned out loud when she saw who it was.

Drusilla. God Buffy hated that vampire.

Dru swayed from side to side with the night air, her eyes never leaving Buffy's. Although Buffy knew better than to look straight into the demon's eyes. Drusilla was powerful, and more importantly, Drusilla was insane. Neither were good things when it came to vampires.

"The sunshine glows in the night, don't you dear?" Dru asked Buffy, stopping in mid-sway and taking a step toward the Slayer. "You're the day and yet you go out into the night. Tsk, tsk." Dru pointed a finger at Buffy. "You go where you don't belong..."

Buffy rolled her eyes slightly. Buffy was pretty sure that insane rants were Drusilla's thing, although nothing she said ever made any sense to the Slayer.

"Yeah, sure. You wanna fight now or keep this conversation going till sunrise?" Buffy asked mockingly.

Dru's eyes narrowed and she rolled her head to one side, as if to see Buffy better from a different angle.

"You stupid, stupid girl. You thought the moon could love the sun? But they couldn't be together, so you killed the moon, and you brought back the night to me. You sent him straight to hell and he came back to me. Angelus came back to family."

That was it for Buffy. She would rip Drusilla's head off before she listened to her go on and on about Angel or Angelus.

Buffy attacked first. She closed the distance between herself and the dark vampire quickly, aiming a strong punch to Dru's midsection. Drusilla laughed as she grabbed her stomach where Buffy had hit her.

"Silly little girl. You can't kill the night..."

Buffy spun one leg around for a kick. Dru ducked, causing Buffy to take half a step backward to regain her balance. Dru stepped forward, closing the distance herself that time, and lashed out at Buffy with one hand, her long fingernails exposed as weapons. Buffy twisted to the side to avoid the attack, but Dru's hand still caught Buffy along the neck, leaving three straight trails of blood leaking from one side. Buffy reached up and felt the blood, then she pulled back one fist, and, putting all of her strength into it, punched Dru hard in the jaw. The vampire literally fell backward and hit the edge of a tombstone before hitting the ground.

Buffy put her hand to her neck again, feeling where the blood was seeping out of her wound. Holding her hand against her neck to put pressure on it, she turned back to where Drusilla had been sprawled out on the ground, only to see that the vampire was already up and running into the woods.

"Geez," Buffy grunted to herself. "Only Drusilla would run away in the middle of a fight..."

Buffy turned and started walking out of the cemetary. She wanted to get home and cover up that wound fast. Who knew what kind of beasties her blood might attract at that time of night?

Thankfully, her walk home was uneventful. She reached her home about fifteen minutes later, almost one-thirty in the morning, and climbed up to her bedroom window. After spending a few minutes in the bathroom, she returned to her bedroom with a thick pad of gauze covering where Drusilla had left her claw marks. Buffy hoped that her Slayer abilities would close the wounds by the morning. She really didn't want her friends to think that she couldn't even handle the insane Drusilla.

Buffy glanced at herself in the mirror on the way to her bed. A small amount of blood had already started leaking through the gauze pad, leaving a small blotch of red in the middle of the white sheet. Buffy grimaced. Dru seriously needed to quit with the girl fighting--using your claws was just pathetic.

Just as she reached her bed, a streak of movement at her window caught her attention.

He had smelled the blood from outside. It was amazing how much a Slayer's blood would call to a vampire, even one as trained and as old as Angelus. Smelling it alone heightened his senses, made his own body warm slightly at the thought of drinking it. He couldn't imagine what it would feel like to actually feel it course through his veins. Angelus almost shivered at the idea. It would be intoxicating, it would incredible. Then another thought occured to him, the problem with drinking from a Slayer would be that there is only ever _one_ Slayer. If one ever had the chance to drink from a Slayer, that would be the only chance they would ever have. Angelus could imagine a Slayer's blood being like a drug. Once you had it, you would want more. He would need more.

Angelus climbed in through Buffy's window, as he had been doing every night and walked toward her, a strange expression on his face.

So the Slayer had gotten herself bit, he though. Kind of pathetic. How the hell had the _Slayer _allowed herself to be bit by some fledgling? Some newborn? Even Angelus had to admit that a Slayer of Buffy's talent, of her strength deserved to be defeated by someone legendary, someone like himself. Which is probably why he was devoting himself to her now. He knew what kind of defeat she deserved. Sure, it was twisted, but he respected true power enough to devote himself to it, especially to its destruction.

"Someone got a taste of you tonight, huh Buff?" he asked, approaching her and gesturing to her neck.

Buffy scrunched up her nose. "No one got a _taste _of me, thank you. Your crazy ass girlfriend decided to attack me."

"Girlfriend?" Angelus asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah," Buffy said. "The crazy one."

Angel grinned slightly. "Dru decided to go have some fun, did she? Well, looks like she got some. She didn't bite you?" Angel asked.

"No," Buffy answered, annoyed by his questions. "She _clawed _me. Like with her _nails_."

Angelus almost laughed. Of course, he would punish Drusilla severely later in the night for going after Buffy after he had ordered her not to. In the meantime, however, he found it strangely entertaining that Buffy had allowed herself to actually be scratched by Dru.

"Not quite tough enough are you, Slayer?" Angelus asked, moving closer to Buffy and looking her straight in the eyes.

Buffy took a half step closer to him. She was merely inches from his body. Against her will, her heart started hammering in her chest, and she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She would never admit it--not to Giles or to Xander or Willow--but God did she miss Angel. Standing so close to Angelus, she felt the same feelings she used to when she was with Angel. A huge part of her missed that.

"I'll be tough enough to beat you," Buffy said, her eyes challenging Angelus.

Angel smiled slightly and put his arms on Buffy's small shoulders, resting them there as he narrowed his eyes and looked down at her.

Buffy's breath quickened, her heart threatened to beat right out of her chest. Why the hell could he make her feel this way?

Angel could hear her heart. He could sense the blood pulsing in her veins harder than it had been. It called to him--to the part of him that wanted to rip those veins right out of her throat, and it called to a part that he didn't even understand, a part that he really wanted to shut himself off from.

"Sure, ya will, Slayer," Angel said, his arms still on her shoulders.

Buffy ducked out from underneath his touch before she allowed herself to feel anything more. She had to kill him, she told herself. She needed to _kill him. _She needed this whole thing done with.

"I'm going to bed," she said, feeling stupid as she announced it to him. She climbed into her bed and pulled the covers up over herself.

Angel shrugged slightly and flipped the light off for her once again, then moved to the side of her bed. He sat down on it playfully, swinging his legs up and letting them dangle over the end of the Slayer's bed. His large body took up more than half of her bed, and Buffy found herself being pushed to the side of her own bed.

She moved her foot and pushed hard against him from underneath her covers. "Move over," she grunted.

Angel laughed lightly as her foot attempted to move him. "It's called s_haring, _Slayer," he said jokingly.

Buffy was annoyed, again, as she often was around him. However, she was beginning to notice that it was kind of a...friendly annoyance. Buffy grimaced as that thought went through her head. That wasn't how she was supposed to feel about this dangerous vampire whom she was currently sharing her bed with.

"Seriously, _move_," she said more forcefully, trying to push aside whatever friendly feelings she may have been having toward him.

Angelus sat up slightly, giving her a little bit more room in her own bed.

"Did you kick Angel outta bed? Because I can't exactly see how you two hooked up so easily with you being so unwilling to share your bed. Then again, he was pretty needy. He probably wouldn't have been too picky. Him needing to get laid and everything," Angel grinned as he saw how her words pissed her off.

"Don't talk about him," Buffy said harshly.

"I'm just sayin'...Angel's a bit of a...bed guy. Whereas myself...well, I'll do it wherever I can. And believe me, I get it _done _wherever I am." Angel grinned seductively. "I guess you're not so much a bed girl either, huh Buff?"

Buffy rolled her eyes at him. "I'm sleeping now," she told him, turning away from him and facing her bedroom wall.

"Sleep then," Angelus said, putting his hands behind his head and lounging back on her bed. "I'll be here."

Buffy considered his words before closing her eyes. He would be there...all night. Watching her.

It was obviously terrifying, definitely creepy, and strangely comforting.


	8. Chapter 8

So I'm trying to keep the updates regular, but bear with me! Please, please read and review! I always want to know what you guys think!!

* * *

The next few days passed normally. Well, they passed as normally as days usually did for the Slayer. Willow and Xander had met up with Buffy before school the day after their big library blowout and had apologized for ganging up on her so badly. Buffy hadn't even cared any more by that point--she needed her friends, even if they couldn't possibly understand what she was going through with Angelus. She needed their support and she needed to spend time with them. Let them think whatever they want about whether or not she was ready to kill Angel. They could agree to disagree, and they still had no idea about what she was doing on the side to guarantee their safety. At least they could all just put their problems to the side without Buffy having to worry about whether or not they would be killed by the dangerous vampire.

So Buffy went to school, trained with Giles in the library, met up with Willow and Xander for some studying and some goofing off, and of course, did the nightly Slaying thing. Nothing too big had come out of the shadows in the past few days, just a few recently borne vampires. She had staked one before he even had time to get his legs out of his grave. Nothing big, nothing dangerous, and definitely nothing deadly.

Her nightly rendevouz with Angelus had continued as scheduled as well. He showed up at her bedroom window every night a few minutes after she returned home from slaying, and, as far as she knew, he stayed in her room until just before the sun rose. She still wasn't sure exactly what his plans were, but whatever his intentions, he was keeping his end of their deal. Although he annoyed Buffy nearly to death, he hadn't actually killed anyone to break their deal.

Fortunately, or perhaps it was unfortunately?, tonight was the final day of their deal. Buffy sat in class, working hard to block out the lecture her history teacher was giving, and considered what the end of their deal really meant for her. It would mean Angelus would be done with their twisted relationship, it would mean she would have her room and her bed to herself again without having to deal with Angelus, but it also meant he would move on to attacking her and her friends again. Buffy shuddered at the thought. It would mean that she was going to have to gather up her strength and go after him once and for all. She was going to have to kill him and keep him from killing. Even now, sitting in class, Buffy couldn't quite picture herself stabbing a stake through the vampire's heart. Sure, she did it every night. She had done it to hundreds of vampires since being called to be the Slayer. She just wasn't sure she could look her lover in the eyes and turn him to dust.

"Isn't that right Ms. Summers?"

Buffy's eyes shot up quickly to her teacher, who was hovering above her desk.

"Yeah. Yes. I mean, of course, Mr. Ries."

"Really?" The balding man stood over her and put his hands on his hips. His brown suit screamed "fashion disaster," and, Buffy noticed with annoyance, Mr. Ries smelt strongly of stale coffee.

"Yep," she agreed again, oblivious as to what she was agreeing to.

"So," her teacher raised his eyebrows as he continued talking down to her. The rest of the class had their eyes glued on the two in the middle of the room. Even the people who had been dozing off had woken up to see what was going on. "England defeated America back in the Revolutionary War?"

Buffy's forehead scrunched up slightly as she realized the mistake.

"Oops," she said quietly, looking away from her teacher.

He turned away from her and headed back to the board. "Let's try not to rewrite history and pay attention to what _actually _happened, Ms. Summers," Mr. Ries said as he picked up a piece of chalk and turned to the black board.

Buffy rolled her eyes slightly and tuned him out again. Her mind drifted back to thoughts of Angel and to what killing him would mean to her. Tonight would be the end of their deal, the end of simple nights spent _not _worrying about how to kill her ex-lover. She would have to focus harder on her training so that she could kill him soon. Before he had the chance to finish off another one of her friends. Buffy sighed slightly as she cleared her head of vampires and slaying and turned her attention back to the board and to her droning, middle-aged teacher.

* * *

They had decided to go to the Bronze that night--Buffy, Willow and Xander. Cordelia was, once again, shopping out of town. Apparently, the malls around Sunnydale didn't have nearly enough options for Cordelia. And Oz was actually playing at the Bronze that night, so he would already be there. It would just be the three of them dancing and listening to Oz's band and hanging out. Buffy was seriously looking forward to the down time, the last night of her freedom before she would have to devote herself entirely to killing Angelus.

Buffy struggled with the thought as she waited for Xander and Willow to show up at her house. They were supposed to meet her there so they could walk to the Bronze together. Buffy waited downstairs in the living room. She tugged on her black skirt slightly, pulling it a little further down over her legs. Then she adjusted the white tanktop she had put on, pulling it down so it covered her stomach, which peeked out from above the black fabric of her skirt. Definitely a Bronze-acceptable outfit, she noted with satisfaction. If she was completely honest with herself, she looked pretty good that night.

Xander and Willow arrived a few minutes later and they headed across town together to the Bronze, which laid right at the edge of Sunnydale. As usual, the street in front of the building was lined with cars, evidence of the mass of people who were already inside, probably dancing and partying to Dingoes Ate My Baby, Oz's band.

"I'm so excited to listen to him play," Willow said as they crossed the street in front of the Bronze. "He's been saying that the band worked on a few new songs, and they're debuting them tonight!"

"That's great, Wills," Buffy said, trying to muster up some enthusiasm for her friend.

"It sounds like they're really rocking in there," Xander observed as the trio headed closer to the Bronze door and the large bodygaurd who stood waiting just outside of it.

Just as they reached the door, Buffy stopped. Something to the right of the building had caught her attention, something that had flashed and then disappeared quickly, silently. Too silently, Buffy realized, as if something had been snatched.

Buffy turned to Willow and Xander. "Hey guys...there's something over there I think. I'm going to go check it out." Without waiting for their answer, Buffy turned away from them and headed to the shadows that laid in the alleyway located on the side of the building. Just then, she heard a trashcan lid crash against the ground hard. Buffy quickened her pace and ran to the alleyway. She could hear Willow and Xander running to catch up with her.

She turned the corner quickly and stopped suddenly at what she saw.

Angelus had a petite blonde girl, younger than Buffy, pinned up against the alley wall. His teeth were sunk deep into the side of her neck, and her legs continued to thrash at him, despite the fact that he had both of her hands pinned up against the stone wall. After a moment's hesitation, Buffy's Slayer instincts kicked in and she raced toward them.

Willow and Xander had finally reached the alleyway and stopped as they watched Buffy spring at Angelus with incredible Slayer speed. She knocked the vampire back before he had the chance to even lift his head up from the neck of his victim. The blonde girl slid down the wall slowly, one hand clutching her neck.

Buffy stood over Angelus threateningly, standing between the young victim and the vampire. Angel was quickly getting back to his feet.

"Get her _out_," she instructed her friends.

Willow and Xander both moved to the girl. Each took one of her arms and helped to lead her out of the alley, away from Angelus and Buffy.

Buffy looked at Angelus as he reached his full height and moved toward her dangerously. A quick glance to her right told her that her friends had already left the alley, probably taking the girl somewhere to get help.

"What are you doing?" she asked him, her eyes poised in a dangerous glare.

"What the _hell _did it look like I was doing?" he yelled. "Trying to get a freakin' bite, obviously."

Buffy punched him hard across the face, and then moved to further the attack. Angelus recovered from the hit and held up both his hands as if in surrender.

"Easy, Slayer," he said quietly, his eyes narrowing. "We've still got a night, ya know. We oughta save this fight for tomorrow."

Buffy stepped toward him, still poised to attack. "You weren't supposed to attack anyone," she said.

Angelus laughed and then cocked his head at her. Did the Slayer really think that he had given up on eating for a week? She had gotten her hopes up a little too high.

"I believe the deal said nothing about my...eating habits," Angelus said with a snicker. "Did you really think I wasn't going to eat for a week?"

"You weren't supposed to kill--"

"_Your friends," _Angelus filled in for her. "I wasn't supposed to kill _your _friends. I've still gotta eat, Buff."

Buffy shook her head, one of her hands reaching up to cover her eyes. Seriously, what had she been thinking? That Angelus wasn't going to kill anyone just because she let him in her room? Then again...he had still kept the deal, Buffy realized with regret. She hadn't specifically told him he couldn't eat.

Buffy turned away from him. She couldn't believe she was going to let him go, but she couldn't attack him tonight, on the last night of their deal. They had both kept to it so far; it would be ridiculous of her to break it now. She walked to the end of the alley, eager to reach her friends before they returned and she had to explain why she was turning away from Angelus instead of fighting him.

"Atta girl, Buff," Angelus said approvingly, pleased with the fact that Buffy was keeping their little agreement in mind, despite the fact that she had just found him feeding. "See ya at home then?" he called after her.

Buffy rolled her eyes as she rounded the building's corner. She arrived at the Bronze's door just as Willow and Xander were returning from walking the girl to her car.

"She's fine," Xander said as Buffy and Willow went inside. "More shaky from fright than shaky from loss of blood."

Buffy nodded, grateful that one more person was alive instead of dead.

"So Angelus strikes again," Willow said as they all three sat down at a nearby table. The Bronze was as crowded as ever. A crowd of teenagers were huddled around the stage, where Oz and his band were belting out their most well known hits.

"Yeah Buff, what happened back there?" Xander asked, turning to Buffy.

Buffy shrugged and looked down at her hands. "He ran," she said simply. "No fights, no puns, just one vampire running before we had the chance to fight."

Xander reached up and covered her hands with one of his own. "You'll get him, Buffy. Don't worry. Angelus will be nothing but dust before long."

Buffy nodded and then looked up and forced a fake smile to give to her friend. He was trying to help, she knew. Still, he had no idea what his words were doing to her--how they were tearing apart everything she felt toward Angel...and Angelus.

* * *

A couple hours later, Buffy left the Bronze with Willow and Xander. The three went their separate ways as they hit the main road, each heading to their respective houses. Buffy said goodnight to her best friends and headed home.

She walked through the front door a little while later. She quietly closed it behind her, knowing her mother would already be asleep. It was only midnight, but Buffy opted to skip the slaying for the night. She had stopped Angelus...atleast for the night...and she wasn't really feeling up to killing any more baddies. She wanted to focus on him as much as she could. She climbed the stairs and headed for her bedroom. She was slightly startled to find Angelus already resting against her window ledge as she entered her room.

"Last night, huh Slayer?" he asked, his arms crossed over his chest, his leather jacket falling around his muscular body.

"Yep," Buffy said, trying to limit their conversation as much as possible.

"You know you seriously owe me?" he started again. Buffy turned to him, her face scrunched up at his words.

"Owe you for _what?"_ she asked him incredulously.

"Uhh...the _meal _you took from me tonight...duh." He took a step toward her. "You know that wasn't a deal breaker."

"Maybe," Buffy said, "but my saving that girl wasn't exactly a deal breaker either."

Angelus' eyes narrowed at the Slayer in front of him. God, she looked pretty damn good in that outfit, he noticed with appreciation. Their deal was over after that night, but Angelus couldn't help but to think that he wasn't quite ready for it to end. He really didn't have an agenda anymore. He was simply playing the game as he went along, doing what he wanted when he wanted to do it. Suddenly, an idea came to mind. His lips turned upward in a slight smile as he considered what he was about to propose to her. No way she'd go along with it, but still, it was worth a shot.

"Speaking of deals..." Angel took a few steps toward Buffy.

"Ours is over. I know," Buffy said, turning away from him.

Angelus closed the distance between them and grabbed her arms, spinning her to face him.

"I was thinking we could...renegotiate for a while?"

Buffy raised her eyebrows at him, surprised at what he was suggesting. She had figured he would be more than ready to move on from their little week-long deal. She hadn't really expected him to want to extend it.

"What're you saying?" she asked him cautiously, her curiosity slightly piqued. She moved backwards to escape his grip on her arms.

He took a step closer to her again, closing the distance she had created. She was nearly pushed up against the wall.

"I'm saying..." his head turned to the side and his gaze lingered on her neck before he turned back to her. "I'm saying that I'm hungry."

Buffy tried to move to the side, hoping to keep herself from being trapped between Angelus and the wall, but Angel put one hand firmly against the wall on each side of her, trapping her in front of him.

"And...?" she prompted rudely, annoyed at him already for making her feel so trapped.

"And, I'm saying we oughta talk this out for a minute." Angel looked at her seriously. "Now, I'm thinkin', you don't really want your friends dead, right? Well...you don't want anyone dead, and I get that, really. From a Slayer point of view, I mean. So I'm thinking we change things up a bit. I feed from you, and I don't hunt...or hurt...anyone for a while."

Buffy's face mirrored her disgust. "You are sick in the head and seriously, _seriously _insane if you really had thought that I would _ever _consider something that crazy."

Angel cocked his head at the Slayer again. Despite what she said, he thought he could hear something behind her words. He thought there was a chance she might go fot it.

"Come on, Slayer. Think about it. You know how much you loved this first little deal we made...how much easier it made your life. Think about all the lives you'd be saving just by giving me a little...bit...of your blood," Angelus said as he moved his gaze back to her neck again. Watching her neck pulse steadily was intoxicating. Her blood called to him, made his body feel as if his own still heart had begun to beat a little quicker.

He watched her hesitation. Angelus saw the wheels turning in her mind, he saw the part of her that was the Slayer and the part of her that was just Buffy, a teenage girl, fighting over the pros and the cons of either accepting or denying what he was offering her.

"Come on Slayer," he nudged her slightly with his arm. "I'll make it feel good..."

Buffy scrunched up her nose at that last line. Feel good? How the hell was he going to make tearing apart her neck feel _good? _

Buffy tried to wrap her mind around the vampire's offer. Was she crazy to even consider it? Probably. But still, she couldn't deny the fact that their first deal turned out very well. It had bought her more time before having to do the final face off with her ex-lover, and it may have saved her friends' lives. Was sacrificing a few parts of herself to save countless of innocent strangers really that bad? By giving him her blood, she could keep him from feeding off other people, off young victims like the one she had saved from him that night.

Suddenly, something in her head clicked. She was probably a terrible Slayer, she realized, but who the hell cared? She was the One, the only one, and so far she had made it further than any of the other Slayers by acting on her instincts and by going with her gut. She was about to do it again.

She looked Angelus up and down and then settled her eyes on his own. He stared her down, a slight smirk playing on his mouth as he realized what her answer was about to be.

"Fine," she said, pushing his arms away from her once again, freeing herself from his trap. "I'll do it."

Angelus gave her a wide smile and once again he found his gaze settling on her neck. The undead life just got seriously more interesting, he realized.


	9. Chapter 9

Please, please, PLEASE review!!! It means so much!! Thanks again for everyone who reads!!

* * *

His gaze hadn't left her neck. One of his hands still rested against the wall on either side of Buffy's head, trapping her between his own body and her bedroom wall. She took a deep breath, hoping she had made the right decision and wondering about the consequences of this new deal.

Angel was continuing to smile at her, a playful half-smile that seemed to give her the chills.

"You can't kill me, you know," Buffy said, although she knew it was a stupid, obvious comment.

Angel smiled wider at her. "I figured."

"I mean, you can't take that much. I have to be able to be fine the next day." Buffy looked at Angelus seriously. She knew she was crazy for putting so much faith in such a dangerous vampire, but still, it wasn't like Angelus hadn't had the chance to kill her before. Like Buffy had decided a week ago, they were champions who respected the fight too much to kill the other in such a deceitful way.

"Slayer," Angelus said, his smile disappearing, "I think I know what I'm doing here. I've been doing it for a couple of centuries." He shifted his weight back to his feet and moved one hand against Buffy's neck, his eyes narrowing as he concentrated on her pulse. "I know _just _how much to take...to let you live."

"But you can't kill," Buffy said quickly. "I mean, you can't kill, _or_ hurt, _anyone. _That's the deal. If I'm giving you blood, you lay low."

Angelus nodded thoughtfully. "Fine," he agreed, "but you have to make it good for me. We do it my way."

"What the hell does that mean?" Buffy asked, nervousness creeping up on her. "You bite, you drink, you let go. That's the only way."

Angel gave her a smile, almost patronizing her innocent attitude. "Yeah, sure, Slayer. You just leave the biting to me. That's my area of expertise."

Angelus was still staring at her neck. His hand rested against one side of it, his thumb brushing back and forth across the thick vein in her neck, feeling her pulse as it quickened with her nervousness.

Buffy shrugged away from him, wanting his hand away from her. In fact, she wanted _him_ away from her. She ducked underneath his hand, which had still been resting against the wall beside her head, and she moved toward her bed, away from him. She folded her arms tightly across her chest and sat down on her bed, her head ducked and her eyes glued to the floor. She let her hair fall across her face, shielding her eyes and her feelings from Angelus. Buffy couldn't believe what she was about to do. With all of the feelings that still swirled inside of her, she wasn't sure that she could let Angelus in that close. So far, she hadn't had to really let him in, she hadn't allowed him to touch her or to be close to her. She wasn't sure what would happen if she let this continue. Despite what everything, and everyone, told her, she still had feelings for Angel. She still _loved _Angel. How could she let the monster who had taken him away from her bite him? How could she let him be so incredibly close to her, how could she trust him when he had taken away the one thing she loved the most.

She hadn't noticed Angelus cross the room or that he was standing in front of her looking down at her. Angelus cocked his head at the Slayer curiously. She was so interesting to him, for reasons he didn't understand. He had come across Slayers before. They had never seemed quite this complicated. And, of course, he had gone through hundreds, probably thousands, of girls Buffy's age. Girls he had just torn apart, either physically or mentally, and had then just moved on from. For some reason, Buffy was different. He didn't want to just dispose of her as quickly as he usually did. She was too..._interesting._

He bent down in front of her. She seemed oblivious to him still. He squinted at her bent frame, wondering what she was thinking, wondering what it was that was breaking the Slayer. It was funny, he realized, that he seemed to be breaking her so easily, and yet he had really done nothing to her. Sure, he had killed the teacher; he had taught the Slayer that he could take away the people that are close to her, but he hadn't _actually _taken anyone away from her.

Angelus watched as Buffy realized that he was there. The Slayer lifted her head slightly, just enough to glance at him, to see what he was up to. Yet, she couldn't bring herself to look at him. She couldn't stop thinking about Angel. She had thought that she could put all of it behind her, that she could move on, and finish what was going on between her and Angelus. She should have been strong enough--whether it was strong enough to kill him outright or strong enough to allow him to drink from her without feeling the way she was, without still having feelings for Angel. But she wasn't. She was so _tired _of trying to push down her feelings, and yet she still tried to.

Angel could almost sense the struggle that seemed to be taking place within the Slayer. Finally, he lifted one hand toward her slowly. He pushed her hair out of her face gently, gentlier than he had really thought he was capable of being. Then, putting his thumb under her chin, he lifted her head up, surprised that she didn't resist. Her eyes were still glued to her carpet, they seemed to look straight through it, as if she was seeing nothing and everything all at the same time. Angelus nearly smiled at the sight. He couldn't believe the...affect...he could have on her.

Slowly, Angelus raised his other hand to her face, brushing her hair back on the other side and cupping her face in his hands. He pushed her back from her slumped position over the edge of her bed, until he was standing over her. Finally, life seemed to move back into the Slayer's eyes and she looked up at him.

Buffy was suddenly aware of the beating of her heart. It had begun to hammer in her chest. She realized that he was going to drink from her tonight. That's what he had told her in--that she owed him a meal. Once again, her Slayer instincts struggled inside of her. She was supposed to just _let _a vampire bite her? It was against everything that she did...against everything that she fought for. Still, she would be saving so many lives. Then again, she could save so many lives by simply killing the murderer, the monster who took lives, Angelus. So was she weaker or stronger for allowing him to drink from her in order to keep him from killing?

Angelus scooted her over on her bed so that he could sit beside her. He had told her he would make it good for her. What exactly did that mean for him though? He hadn't bitten anyone for any reason besides feeding or enjoying the pain he inflicted for a very long time. Not since he and Darla had been together...years and years ago. Not that he had always been gentle with her either, but there had been times where they had been gentle with each other...few times, yeah, but occasionaly. But Darla was gone now, Angel had killed her. Not that Angelus particularly cared. He and Darla had shared their glory days for a long time, but he and she had gone their separate ways even before he had been ensouled by the gypsies. She had grown tiresome.

Angel listened as Buffy's heart slammed against her chest, a small smile coming to his lips. He could smell her fear, her apprehension at what she was about to do, at what _they _were about to do. He turned his head to look more closely at the Slayer. She looked very small, her legs pulled up against her chest, her arms around them.

He moved closer to her.

"Now?" she asked, clearly nervous about what she had agreed to.

Angel shrugged. Why not? He was hungry. She was offering.

"Yeah," he breathed quietly. "You gotta relax. Trust me." The words sounded foreign even to him. Trust? Trust wasn't a familiar word for him, or a word that was familiar to those who surrounded him.

Buffy looked at him critically and then relaxed her grip around her legs. She unfolded her body slowly until she was just sitting up in bed, her legs sprawled out in front of her.

Angel moved until he was right beside her on the bed and turned his body so that he was facing her. He put his hand up to her neck again, enjoying the feel of her pulse against his cool skin.

"Wait," Buffy said nervously, turning to look at him. "My friends...Giles...it's got to be..."

Angel interrupted her. "I can be discreet, Buff. Two small holes. As the Slayer, you'll heal up by tomorrow. Two tiny scars, barely visible."

Buffy nodded. She assumed he knew what he was doing. He had been doing it for a while...as terrifying and comforting as that thought was to her.

Angel moved even closer to her, settling his body almost against hers. He felt her tense beside him. He began to massage the side of her neck gently, trying to calm her.

"You s_eriously _have to relax, or it's going to be alot worse."

Buffy tried to relax her muscles, to loosen up her body. She really did feel the muscles in her neck begin to loosen as Angelus rubbed there. She tilted her head against his touch.

"_Trust me_," he told her again, as he moved his face in closer to hers.

Angelus didn't change into his vampire face yet. Instead, he brought his mouth to her neck. He could feel Buffy's heart still hammering blood throughout her body. If he bit her right at that moment, he would end up tearing into her neck, ripping her skin apart.

Just as Buffy felt his mouth touch her neck, she brought her hands up quickly, desperate to push him away. She knew that she had agreed to this, yet the Slayer side of her wouldn't allow herself to just sit there as a vampire bit her. Before she had a chance to push him away, Angelus caught her hands in his.

He had expected that. That was why he hadn't bitten her so early. He grabbed both of her wrists in his one large hand and pulled them to her side, closer to him. He held them there tightly, keeping her from pushing him away again. She didn't resist.

Angel put his mouth against her neck again, his blunt, human teeth hitting her skin. She flinched back slightly, but otherwise stayed still. He started to suck on her neck, enjoying how the area beneath his mouth grew warm as the blood pooled around where he was sucking. He even gnawed at her skin lightly with his teeth. He continued until he finally caught the slight change in the Slayer's feelings. Some of the fear melted away, and he could feel a small amount of pleasure rush through her body. Exactly what he had been waiting for.

He reached up and put his free hand against the back of her head, running his fingers through her long blonde hair. Buffy leaned back into his hand, allowing herself to enjoy it. For a second, she forced herself to forget about Angel versus Angelus. For a moment, all there was was this man beside her. For all she knew, it could have been Angel.

Angelus waited until the scent of fear was gone before morphing into his vampire face, his true face.

One of his hands held her wrists, keeping her from trying to push him away in case she became frightened. His other hand continued to run through the Slayer's hair, finally pulling her head gently to the side in order to give him better access to her smooth neck.

Then, he plunged his fangs inside of her.


	10. Chapter 10

It had taken Buffy a second to notice that he had bitten her. She didn't feel the pain; that wasn't what had alerted her to the fangs inside her neck. It was the connection. It was the connection she felt, and she knew he felt it too, while he was drinking from her. She could feel his intoxication; she could feel the affect her blood was having on him. She could feel it coursing through his veins as easily as she could feel it leaving hers. She freed one of her arms from his grasp and, instead, grabbed his arm, digging her fingers into his muscle. She had never felt anything like it. She had had no idea how her blood would affect him.

Angelus continued to pull from her. Instead of drinking greedily, he drank slowly. He didn't want to startle the Slayer, and, more importantly, he wanted to make it last. He knew he could continue to drink from her, he could drink until she passed out if he wanted to. She would still live. But he wouldn't. He would take enough from her, and then he would stop. By doing so, he would have earned the Slayer's trust, and, even better, he would be able to drink from her again tomorrow.

Buffy's grip on Angel's arm tightened again as she began to feel lightheaded. It was almost a drunk feeling, Buffy noticed calmly. Her head spun with the intoxication that her own blood was having on the vampire beside her. Her heart pounded; it tried to fight what was happening. It was unnatural for her body to lose so much blood and, of course, her heart was trying to make up for that. At the same time, Buffy couldn't help but notice that her heart pounded faster for another reason also: excitement. Angelus' excitement over drinking from a Slayer was coursing through her.

Angel felt Buffy's head become heavier against his hand. He didn't want to stop, but he pulled back anyways. He brought his fangs out of her neck gently, smoothly, so that the wounds would be small, as promised. He pulled his head back and looked at Buffy, whose eyes had become heavy. Glancing at the wound at her neck, Angelus brought his mouth toward it again.

Buffy put her hand against his chest. "No. It's enough," she said quietly, feeling even more lightheaded from the blood loss.

Angelus pushed her hand away. "I'm closing the wound. Or do you want blood everywhere?"

Buffy's eyes narrowed slightly at him, but she allowed him to move back to her neck anyways. His features had already shifted back to his human face, she noticed with relief. Still, she shivered slightly when she felt his mouth reach her neck again. She felt his lips against her hot skin, felt him clean the rest of the blood that had run down her neck from the wound. Then, he moved his mouth to the wound, sucking slowly and gently until the bleeding stopped.

He pulled back from her neck for the second time and licked his lips appreciatively.

"You," he said slowly, looking at her seriously, "are...amazing." He bent closer to her, lifting her chin up.

Buffy looked at him curiously. He had never killed a Slayer, she remembered. He had never tasted one...until now.

Angelus shifted so that he was sitting beside her, leaning back against her headboard. He closed his eyes in satisfaction. The scent of Buffy's blood had been nothing compared to the taste. He had felt it...every drop that he had taken from the Slayer was running through his veins, warming his body.

Buffy's hand fell from his arm as he moved away from her.

"You're warm," she noted calmly, a sleepy lull to her voice.

Angelus smiled slightly, curious at the naive Slayer. "That's you," he told her.

Buffy looked at him curiuosly, then sighed. "I'm tired," she said easily, lowering her body down until her head was against her pillow.

Angelus looked down at her. She seemed so innocent at times, he noticed. "You'll need to sleep," he said simply. "You'll recover quickly though," he said with a slight shrug. He didn't really mind how the blood loss was affecting the Slayer. So long as she was well enough for him to drink from her again...and soon.

"What do you get out of this?" Buffy asked him suddenly, narrowing her eyes and looking up at him.

Angelus' brow furrowed slightly. Of course, he didn't have to answer her question. The problem was that he wasn't sure if he even _could_ answer the girl's question. What the hell _did _he get out of this arrangement? He would drink less...he would lose his freedom to kill, to hunt, to chase for a while. But God did the Slayer taste good. The taste of her blood alone was enough to make him forget the excitement of torturing one of his victims or to make him forget about how good he felt after he had a full meal. Angelus comforted himself as he decided that that was the reason he was making the deal with her. The taste of the Slayer's blood. It had nothing to do with Buffy...or so he told himself.

He leaned down toward her slightly and his voice was low and gruff as he answered her. "You taste...incredible."

Buffy was only slightly disconcerted by his answer, she realized. It was strange, but as upset as being close to Angelus could make her, she didn't mind it when he bit her. In fact, the vampire had been very true to his word. It _had _felt...good.

Buffy took a deep breath. Her head was still slightly spinning from the sudden loss of blood, and she found herself shivering slightly beneath the covers.

"Sleep, Slayer," Angelus told her, looking down at her shivering frame.

"You can't kill tonight," she said to him again, her words slightly slurred from exhaustion.

"Yeah, yeah," Angelus said, looking away from her. He let out a short, contented sigh. Slayer blood felt good rushing through his veins, and he closed his eyes along with the Slayer.

Before he knew it, he had drifted off to sleep beside her.

* * *

Angelus woke with a slight start hours later. His eyes still closed, it took him a second to realize why he felt so different. Something in the air, but he hadn't woken up enough yet to really put his finger on it. Suddenly, it hit him. His eyes shot open and he noticed the brightness of Buffy's room.

The sun.

He wasn't sure how he had fallen asleep so easily or why, when his vampire senses were usually so atuned to the time of day and the position of the sun, he hadn't woken up before sunrise. The Slayer was still asleep beside him, curled up tightly in a ball, oblivious to the unfortunate situation Angelus was now stuck in. What the hell was he supposed to do?

He listened for a few moments. One steady, rhythmic heartbeat filled his ears. The rest of the house was nothing but silence. Joyce must not be home, he realized, and he relaxed only slightly, relieved by the fact that he wouldn't have to confront the woman. Not that he particularly cared what she had to say or what she thought. Usually, in a time like that Angelus would simply kill the woman instead of dealing with her. Unfortunately, her being Buffy's mother and all, things would have gotten a bit more complicated had Angelus resorted to his...usual methods. So, thankfully, he wouldn't have to deal with her.

Angelus looked down at the bed, noticing where the sun's rays were reaching. Getting up carefully, he walked around the edge of Buffy's bed, cautiously avoiding where the sun touched the room. He made it to the window and, edging against the wall, reached in front of it quickly, pulling the curtains down over the window and blocking out the sun's dangerous light. He relaxed as the room was plunged into darkness again, creating a much more comfortable atmosphere for the vampire.

He crept back toward Buffy's bed and took a seat on the edge of it. He was seriously annoyed at himself. He was going to be stuck at the freaking Slayer's house until sunset. Pissed, he kicked her nightstand with his foot. The sound startled the sleeping Slayer, and Angelus turned to look at her as she openned her eyes.

Buffy squinted at Angelus curiously. Something felt off about his being in her room. Glancing at the window behind her, Buffy realized what was wrong. It was daylight. He was still there.

Shit.

"What're you doing here?" she asked angrily.

"Shut up," he spat at her angrily. He didn't need the girl's whining at him right now. He didn't want to be stuck there all day anymore than she would want him to be. "Your mom's not here. I'll stay for the day and then be gone." He rubbed his temples, angry at himself for allowing himself to be in this position.

"My mom's working," Buffy said, explaining her absence. "But you're not staying here. You're getting out. _Now_."

Angelus turned and gave Buffy a sideways glare.

"It's a nice day out, Slayer, and I'm not going anywhere until the sun goes down. I'd fry."

"Wouldn't be too bad..." Buffy commented dryly.

Angelus let out a short, fierce growl, and turned to the Slayer quickly.

"I seriously don't want to spend my day in this house with you, okay Buff? So do me a favor. Don't make this any more difficult than it already is."

Buffy ignored his comment and sat up slightly in bed. Immediately, she reached up with one hand to feel where Angelus had bitten her the previous night. She found two slightly raised bumps, about an inch apart on the side of her neck. She jumped up to go look at them in the mirror.

She sighed with relief as she realized that, true to his word, Angelus had made very small holes. They were actually barely visible unless you were really looking for them. They had, of course, already scarred over, thanks to her Slayer powers.

Buffy was nearly scared to death as an invisible hand reached up and touched her neck. Turning quickly, she found Angelus standing behind directly behind her. He grabbed her shoulders tightly and held her in front of him, facing him.

"I told you I'd make it a little mark," he said, his eyes narrowing as he looked critically at where the bite marks had been.

Buffy let out an annoyed sigh and tried to pull back from him, but his grip only tightened on her.

"Where're ya goin' Slayer?" he asked her, a smile playing on his lips. "It's a Saturday...you don't have anywhere to be."

"No," Buffy said, clearly aggravated. "I _do _have places to be, but I won't be going anywhere will I? Because some vampire doesn't know how to wake up on time." Once again, she tried to pull out of his grasp. His grip tightened even more. Buffy's arms started to throb where he held them.

Angelus glared at her. She was so incredibly difficult at times, he noticed.

Finally, Buffy brought one tightened fist partway up and slammed it into Angelus' stomach, knocking the vampire back and freeing Buffy from his grasp.

Angelus took a step backwards and then recovered. Straightening up, he glared dangerously at her.

"Apparently, you're feeling just fine," he said, taking another step toward her. "Perfect." He smiled widely. "Then I can eat again tonight."

Buffy glared at him, but said nothing. Technically, he did get to eat again that night...as long as it was her he was eating, and no one else. Buffy scrunched up her nose as she realized how incredibly wrong that sounded.

"So are you gonna take down that other cross or make me sit up in your bedroom all day long?" Angelus asked her, looking up at the cross that hung beside her bedroom door.

Buffy looked at him critically.

"Don't vampires sleep _during _the day?" she asked him obviously.

Angelus shrugged, glancing away from her casually. "My sleeping habits vary greatly," he said. "Depends on if there's anything...interesting going on."

Buffy rolled her eyes and then walked to her door. She supposed that letting him into her house wouldn't be any more dangerous than letting him into her room would be, so long as her mother wasn't home.

The Slayer crossed her bedroom and grabbed the cross off the wall, throwing it gently toward where Angelus was standing by her bed. It landed on her floor with a thud and she noticed, with a smile of satisfaction, Angelus took a step away from where it had fallen on the floor.

"Fine," Buffy said casually, sauntering out of the room. "But remember: you piss me off, I'm throwing your ass out into the daylight." She turned and headed into the hallway without looking to see if he was following her.

Angelus rolled his eyes and followed her out of the room.

"You can try."


	11. Chapter 11

Hey, I know I've been updating VERY frequently in the past few days...but that's just because once I've got a chapter done I have a really hard time letting it sit there...I can't wait for everyone to read it! So, don't expect this frequent of updates all the time, because I'm kind of out of chapters for a little bit, but I will write more.

I'm going to wait for lots of reviews on this one first though so I know where to let the story go. Sooo PLEASE review, review, revieww. It means alot. Feel free to tell me where you want the story to go...whatever. It all helps. Okay, I'm done. Enjoy :)

* * *

Angelus stood in the kitchen's doorway, casually leaning against the doorframe, and watched the Slayer.

Buffy stood in front of the toaster, waiting for her toast to be done. The sunlight reached in through the kitchen's windows, bathing her in warm light.

She turned her head to Angelus cockily. "You can come join me. If you want." She smiled at him.

Angelus cocked his head at her slightly. "Clever, Slayer. But I'm sure you've realized you can't get rid of me that easily."

Buffy shrugged slightly and turned back to get her toast. She brought it over to the counter and sat down to eat it.

The sun hadn't risen high enough to bathe the whole kitchen yet, and so Angelus took his chances and took a few steps in.

"Where's the rest of the Slayer gang on a nice day like today?" he asked her, coming to stand beside her at the breakfast counter.

"Really none of your concern," Buffy told him, taking another bite of her breakfast.

Angelus slammed one hand down on the countertop angrily.

"Ya know," he began, trying to keep his anger in check, "I haven't killed you...haven't touched or tortured any of your friends...and I'm about to keep my word and be on a strictly Slayer diet for a while. I'm trying here. Why can't you?"

"Why the hell are you?" Buffy asked, for what seemed like the millionth time. She didn't understand any of it, what his plans were, what he wanted, why he was doing what he was doing.

"I dunno, Buff, but how about you just go with it? Okay?" he asked her, shaking his head in annoyance.

Buffy shrugged slightly. She really should just be happy about their arrangement and stop questioning it, she realized. Expect the best from him but prepare for the worst. She'd be ready when he would--and he would eventually--turn on her, but for the meantime, she'd enjoy the time she had without having to worry about taking him out.

"You know you really are a crabby vampire," Buffy said, taking another bite of her breakfast.

Angelus cocked an eyebrow at her. "Vampire, lover. It basically implies all things crabby and cruel. Get over it."

"Fine." Buffy finally said, shoving a final bite of toast in her mouth and moving to put the plate in the sink.

"That's my girl, Slayer. Roll with the punches." Angelus gave her a crooked smile as she spun around to face him.

Moving closer to him, she pushed him back angrily. "I'm..._not_...your girl," she said with a shudder.

It was what Angel had called her. She was _his girl._ Not this monster's.

Angel smiled and grabbed Buffy around the waist, pulling her up close against his body, holding her tight.

"You sure about that Buff?" he asked her, tightening his grip as she tried to pull away. He leaned in closer, his face only a few inches from her own. "You enjoyed last night as much as I did. You know what it felt like; the exhilaration; the power of my blood mixing with your own," he said quietly. "Let me tell you, Slayer, that's the closest two people can ever get. You didn't even have that when Angel fucked you."

Buffy slapped him. Hard. She didn't usually slap, but given the situation, she felt it was appropriate. How dare he bring up Angel with her?

Angelus only smiled at her in response.

"You know I'm right though," he went on. "Admit it, Slayer. I _felt _it in you last night."

Buffy glared angrily at him. "So what?" she asked angrily. "You know what, you're as messed up as I am . _You're _supposed to _kill _Slayers, not beg them to let you sleep in their beds and open themselves up as a snack bar."

Angelus shrugged, clearly unconcerned. "Hey baby, I do what feels best to me at the time, and you and I both know, last night _felt good._"

Buffy tried to turn her face away from him, but he only held her tighter. She struggled slightly in his grasp, but his hands had reached all the way around her, trapping her in his embrace.

"You know," he said, his voice lower, "it could feel even better..." One of Angelus' hands finally released its grip around her waist and found the bottom of her black tanktop. Buffy felt his fingers trail the bottom of it slowly, seductively.

Her heart started to pound. She knew she shouldn't feel the way she was feeling but, God, she couldn't help it.

Angelus had expected the Slayer to pull away as soon as he had let go of her, but she stayed where she was, looking up at him, her eyes narrowed. Angelus looked down at her, a half smile started to play across his face, one eyebrow cocked up in curiosity. Just how far would this go? he wondered.

Seeing the expression on his face, Buffy was hit with a memory. It was Angel's face, Buffy remembered with a pang. She knew they were the same people--technically, but she never considered them the same. There was Angel...and there was Angelus. Or atleast, there had been. Now, the line between the two seemed as if it were blurring. She felt like she was losing touch with the Angel she had known and the Angelus she was with now.

Angelus lifted her shirt up slowly, revealing a few more inches of exposed skin. He traced circles on the Slayer's smooth stomach with his hand and watched her close her eyes in pleasure. She arched her back slightly, leaning more into him, enjoying the feel of his cool fingers on her skin.

Angel shook his head slowly, completley surprised by the Slayer's actions. He pushed it further, lifting her shirt up even higher, and finally slipped his whole hand inside the black fabric. He slid his hand around to her back, continuing to trace cold circles with his fingers. His eyes never left the Slayer's. She held his gaze.

She looked tiny, he realized as he held her against him. It was so easy to put his arms around her and to hold her there. He knew that there was alot of strength and power housed in her petite frame, in the body of the Slayer, but standing there in her loose gray pajama pants and her skin tight black tanktop, she looked like something that he could just take over, something he could possess completely. She was beautiful too, he noticed with satisfaction, gorgeously beautiful. Sure, Darla had been pretty, but Buffy was...vibrant, full of the type of life that Angelus and Darla could never have had, simply because they were already dead. And with Darla, well, she had called the shots, as she should have, Angelus consented. She was his maker, after all. With Buffy, Angelus could be in control. He w_ould _be in control. He continued to smile down at her as he held her close against him.

Maybe it was alright, Buffy thought, trying to rationalize it for herself. She already let him bite her, and she _wanted _this. So why not let him push it as far as her conscience would allow her to go?

Angelus slid his other hand beneath her tanktop as well, and, placing both hands on her back, pulled her in closer to him. He ducked his face down closer to hers, leaning so that his mouth could find her neck. He nipped and sucked on the skin surrounding the area he had bitten the night before. He enjoyed the feeling of heat that radiated off the Slayer's body. He didn't have to be drinking the blood below the skin to know how good it would have tasted.

Buffy turned her head to the side, allowing him fuller access to her neck. He pulled back suddenly, causing Buffy to open her eyes and look up at him curiously.

Angel smiled at her. He had her, he realized. She might not be his yet, but she would be. That was just what he wanted, he realized. He wanted her to be _his._

He leaned down close to her ear and nibbled at it gently before whispering, "You're gonna be _mine,_ Slayer."

She shook her head back and forth, denying his words. "Never," she breathed.

Angelus smiled and leaned down to the Slayer. His hands slid down her back and hooked into the tops of her cotton pajama pants, pulling the elastic down slightly, giving him access to even more skin. He grabbed her hips tightly and jerked her even closer to him. He gave her a small evil smile before his lips met hers.

He kissed her hard, Buffy noticed, as she kissed back with equal force. Angel's kisses had always been gentler, softer, sweeter. He had kissed her like she was breakable. Angelus kissed her as if he _wanted _to break her. His tongue pushed down into her mouth forcefully, daring her to kiss him back harder. When she did, he pulled away. He wanted to make sure that she knew that he called the shots. He initiated it, and he could end it. As he pulled back, he bit her lip slightly, pulling her face back along with his. He let go and she looked up at him expectantly.

_She wanted more, _he realized with a grin.

He nibbled at her lip again before deepening another kiss. His hands slid down into her pants and felt along her firm backside. Sliding his hands down under her butt, he grabbed her tightly, and Buffy groaned slightly at his touch. Suddenly, he lifted her up, as if she weighed no more than a child, and he sat her on the edge of the counter, putting her at just his height.

Buffy noticed a change. He still had his hands underneath her butt, squeezing hard as his kisses deepened. Something was different though. Her hands reached around his back and rested there, her fingers twisting in his black shirt. Angelus pulled back from her kiss and nipped her lip hard, drawing blood. He sucked on it gently, enjoying how even a few drops of her blood could affect him.

Buffy openned her eyes and immediately saw what it was that had changed. She pushed him, hard and sudden, with a force that knocked him back a few steps.

He had changed into his vampire face.

"You're sick," she spat at him, wiping her mouth angrily. She still sat on the countertop, her legs still spread from where they had wrapped around the vampire's body.

It took him a second to understand what it was the Slayer was angry about. Suddenly, he smiled a toothy grin, his fangs easily seen. He closed the distance between them.

"You know what I am," he said, his voice husky and deep. He leaned into her, causing her to put her hands on the counter behind her and lean back on them. "You want the monster as much as you want the man."

"You're not a man," she said quietly.

"Neither was Angel," he shot back. "Didn't stop you then."

"Angel was good." Buffy stared up at the dark vampire before her.

"Hmm," Angelus mused. "I haven't done anything bad lately. We can pretend." He smiled and Buffy was drawn into him again.

This time, she would initiate it. She brought her face in close to his, but before she had the chance to meet his lips, he pushed her back.

He smiled at her slightly and Buffy realized what his goal was. He wanted to be in control. He wanted the power. If there was to be anything, he would be in charge.

He closed the distance between them again and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. He slid them down until they found the entrance to her pants and, once again, slid his hands around her firm butt. He leaned in close to her, his vampire face still in place. He gnawed on the side of her neck gently, careful not to pierce her skin with his fangs. He loved smelling her blood. It was so close to him, and yet he wouldn't take it...not yet. With a final nip, he pulled back from her neck and bent down to her mouth again.

He waited there, waited for Buffy's eyes to meet his. When they did, he smiled slightly. He held her gaze.

Then he leaned in and kissed her. She didn't resist. Despite the fact that she was kissing her worst enemy, was giving herself to everything that she was against, she didn't resist, he noted with satisfaction.

He pulled back for a final time and his features changed back to his human ones.

"We can finish that later," he said quietly, pulling his hands out of her pants and letting them rest on her waist. Buffy closed her eyes once in acknowledgment and then pushed herself up and away from the counter, landing quietly on her feet. She led the way into the living room and, after closing all of the blinds in the room, turned on the television. Angelus still watched her from the doorway. She sat on the couch and turned to him.

"Wanna sit?" she asked, flipping through the channels slowly with the remote.

Angelus smiled again and went to sit beside her on the couch. He snatched the remote away quickly. She glared at him and then turned back to he television, curious to see what it was he would stop to watch.

"A rerun of All My Children?" she asked with a small laugh.

Angelus shrugged. "Soaps are the only good things on during the day. I'm usually pretty cooped up when the sun's out...so..." he let the words linger.

"So soaps it is," Buffy finished for him. She folded her legs and leaned back against the couch, comfortable despite the vampire sitting beside her.

Angelus leaned back as well, lifting one of his hands as he did so and placing it on Buffy's thigh. He rubbed gently and focused his attention on the show in front of him.

Buffy looked down at his hand and then at him. He turned his head to the side and grinned a mischevious grin at her.

Angelus never could have just reached out and touched Darla like that. When it had been just the two of them--Darla and Angelus--she only allowed that kind of thing when they were seriously going at it, as in having some serious sex. And Darla had liked it rough, like bleeding and snapped bones rough. It was nice to be able to just reach out and enjoy what was beside him, Angel noticed.

His hand rubbed back and forth against her thigh. He wasn't pushing his luck or anything...his hand never went much higher than that one spot on her leg, midway up her thigh. Still, Buffy couldn't believe that she would let someone else have that kind of...access to her. Normally, that would not happen. With Angelus, it was so different. Buffy felt like she was giving herself to him...slowly. Oh God, Buffy realized. He _had_ her. She wasn't quite sure how she'd let it get this far, but she had.

At the same time, Angelus was realizing the same thing. He had her. He hadn't known it at first, but he had wanted her from the beginning. From the moment he had crawled out of Angel's bed, leaving her behind, as the soul was leaving his body and as Angelus was resurfacing, he had still wanted her.

And now, he thought, he just might have her.

* * *

Don't forget to review:) Thank you


	12. Chapter 12

They had stayed on the couch for the whole day, watching rerun after rerun of various soaps and daytime television shows. At one point, Angelus had fallen asleep beside Buffy, his hand still laying possessively against her thigh. She turned to look at him curiously. It would be so easy to pull out a stake and kill him right now, she had mused. But would it be so easy for her? She stared at him, at how incredibly _angelic _he looked in his sleep. No one would look at the man sleeping beside her and would associate him with all the violent things he had done, with the torture, the madness, and the insanity that he was capable of. Buffy nearly shuddered. Even she, she who was the legendary Slayer, could barely acknowledge the terrible things he had done. How could she allow him to sit there beside her and not feel an instinctual urge to stake him, to kill him?

"Penny for your thoughts," Angelus whispered quietly, his lips barely moving. The words had startled Buffy. She had been sure he was asleep. How had he known she was staring at him?

"Nothing," Buffy shook her head and turned back to the television, although her mind was still reeling with thoughts about Angelus.

The vampire squeezed her thigh hard, making Buffy turn her head to look at him.

"Then maybe you shouldn't stare quite so loudly," Angelus said, finally openning his eyes and turning to give Buffy a curious look.

The Slayer glared down at the hand that still squeezed her leg. She shifted her body away from the vampire beside her, suddenly feeling angry about the controlling way he held on to her thigh. She looked up at him and gave him a dangerous look. The cocky vampire simply gave her a half smile and then closed his eyes again, keeping his hand placed firmly against the Slayer.

Finally, Buffy had forced herself forget about the vampire beside her. Releasing a small sigh at the frustrating situation she had gotten herself into, Buffy finally relaxed enough to lay her head back against the couch and close her eyes. She fell asleep quickly, still confused about how the cold hand resting against her leg was both oddly comfortable and insanely frustrating at the same time.

* * *

When she woke up, the first thing Buffy noticed was the silence. The television was off, she realized before openning her eyes. Upon openning them, she realized that the sun had set, possibly a while ago, judging by the darkness of the sky outside. The final thing she noticed was that she was alone. Angelus was no where in sight, Buffy noted with slight relief. Everything was all too confusing when he was with her. She stood up from the couch and stretched, enjoying the refreshed feeling that her nap had left her with. She turned to head up to her bedroom when she noticed a small yellow piece of paper lying on the couch next to where she had been sitting.

With a sinking feeling in the Slayer's stomach, she bent down to retrieve it. Flipping it over, she found familiar handwriting scribbled across the paper.

_Tonight, lover._

Buffy shuddered. She crumpled the note up in her hand and then carried it upstairs with her to her bedroom. She needed a good slay, she realized. She would change her clothes, give Willow and Xander a call, and then go out and kill some baddies. Just thinking about dusting vamps instantly helped Buffy to feel calmer and helped her to clear her head of thoughts of Angelus. With a small smile, Buffy reached for the phone and began to dial.

"Hello?" Willow's chipper voice answered on the first ring.

"Hey Will," Buffy greeted, wedging the phone between her shoulder and her cheek as she looked through her drawers for her favorite pair of black sweat pants.

"Buffy!" Willow's voice squeeked as she greeted her best friend. "We were really worried about you. Xander tried to call today and he said no one was answering, and we were supposed to go the mall today, and we didn't know where you were, and--"

"Willow, relax," Buffy interrupted quickly. "I fell asleep on the couch for like...the entire day. Sorry." Buffy adjusted the phone and then pulled off the pajamas she was still wearing to put on some real clothes.

"Oh," Willow breathed, calming down. "Well that's good I guess. Are you patrolling tonight then?"

"Yep," Buffy answered. "I'm going in a few minutes actually."

"Oh okay. Well where should me and Xan meet you? At the graveyard or your house?"

Buffy stopped in the middle of going through her drawers for a top. She had been trying to keep Willow and Xander from patrolling with her every since Angelus had been unleashed, and now that she had made her deal with him...well, she was pretty sure she wanted Willow and Xander to stay far, far away from the action.

Buffy hesitated before finally answering. "Actually Wills, I'm thinking I should just cover it alone tonight. I'm just gonna make a quick sweep anyways and...well, it might just be easier..."

"Oh." Willow sounded taken aback. Buffy knew that she would be hurting her friends by not allowing them to go with her. But she couldn't risk running into Angelus while they were on patrol with her. "Well that's okay," Willow said quickly, trying to cover up the hurt in her voice. "Me and Xander have been wanting to have a movie night anyways; we can do that."

Buffy smiled, hoping her friends would really understand. "That sounds fun, Will. You're not mad are you?"

"No," Willow said quickly. "We just want you to be okay, Buffy, and well...you've been patrolling by yourself alot lately and...it just makes us worried."

"I know, Willow, but I'm fine, really," Buffy reassured her.

"Okay," Willow said hesitantly. "Call me after though, when you get home from patrol I mean."

"Sure, I'll talk to you then."

Hanging up the phone, Buffy was finally free to change her top. She pulled off her pajama tank and put on a gray baby t-shirt that hugged her curves. It was great for fighting it, and she loved the freedom of movement she had when she was wearing just sweatpants and a comfy shirt to slay in. Throwing an old black sweater into her weapons bag--in case it got chilly--, she slung it over her shoulder and headed down the stairs. After locking the door behind her, she headed out to the first cemetary, eager to begin her patrol.

* * *

Willow had paced back and forth for a while after hanging up the phone with her best friend. She was worried about Buffy, and she knew that Giles liked it when all three of them went out to patrol together. It's not like she or Xander could really help Buffy, but it was nicer to travel in pairs, or in their case, threes. It just seemed safer. Like the buddy system.

After finally making up her mind, Willow had decided to call Giles and tell her about her worries.

"But Giles, she just seems so, out of it. She usually wants us to go out and patrol together, she doesn't push us away like she has been," Willow complained to the Watcher over the phone.

"Yes but, Willow, we must understand she's going through a difficult time. We all are. Things may be a bit...off...about her, but maybe it's just her way of getting through things," Giles told her through the phone.

"I get that, but if Buffy's having such a hard time wouldn't it be smarter for her to _not_ be going out by herself right now? I just feel like it's...more dangerous or something. Especially after what happened with Angelus the last time she ran into him in the cemetary. If Xander and me hadn't been there, I don't know what would have happened."

Willow could hear Giles take a deep breath through the phone. The Watcher knew that Willow was right. Buffy's patrolling on her own right now was reckless, especially since Angelus had so easily overpowered her the last time they had met.

"Maybe," Giles began hesitantly, "you and Xander should meet her out at the cemetary and stay with her. I'm sure she wouldn't mind once you two are already out there with her, and if it would make you feel better..."

"It would," Willow interrupted quickly. "I'm worried about her Giles."

"I know," Giles said quietly. "Tell Buffy to contact me in the morning. I'd like to know how patrol went."

"Okay," Willow replied, anxious to get Xander and meet Buffy.

"And Willow," Giles added quickly, "please be careful."

* * *

Buffy left for patrol after talking with Willow. She was so relieved knowing she had potentially kept her friends away from Angelus for another night. It was kind of funny, Buffy realized as she crossed the darkened street into the cemetary, that before she kept her friends from Angelus in order to protect them. Now, she was working hard to keep her friends from him to keep them from finding out Buffy's secret. She knew they were safe, at least for now. She was fairly certain that Angelus was one to keep a deal such as their own. He hadn't done anything to prove her wrong yet.

Buffy relaxed as a cool breeze touched her skin. It was still very warm out, and the breeze felt comforting, as if the cemetaries were welcoming her back.

Her steps were silent in the freshly mowed grass. Her favorite tennis shoes, an old pair of black Nike's, had finished off her favorite, most comfortable slaying ensemble. She turned the corner and came upon the first row of old tombstones that lined the cemetary. Everything, so far, was quiet. Buffy continued her silent walk through the rows of graves. No fresh graves to check, she noted, a bit disappointed. It wasn't that she liked the idea of recently killed Sunnydalians rising from their graves, but fledglings were always easy kills and it was always interesting to see who would rise from the ground beneath them.

Buffy stopped in her tracks, wondering at her own thoughts.

"Geez, I'm becoming morbid," Buffy said to herself quietly, wondering at the way in which she was thinking about her Slayer duties.

"It's the cemetaries, Slayer."

Buffy turned around quickly to face the unexpected voice. She nearly groaned when she saw who it was.

The blonde vampire gave her a wide smile as he crossed his arms and stared at her. "They'll do that to you, ya know. Make you all morbid and such. Like you're ready to die."

Buffy rolled her eyes and took a step forward toward Spike, reaching in her bag for a stake as she did so.

"Haven't seen you in a while, Spikey," she commented dryly, staying ready in a fighting stance even as she did so. "I thought you were all handicapped and stuff. What happened again?" Buffy paused to feign forgetfulness. "Oh yeah. I think I pulled a church down on your sorry ass." She smiled wide as the smirk was wiped of Spike's face.

"Well," Spike countered. "As you can see, I'm back and ready for action, Slayer. Although I guess I can't say the same for your old lap dog. Heard the poof went all...evil on you. Wonder how _that_ came about."

Buffy's eyes narrowed at Spike. He had been getting on her last nerve for a while now. She thought she had put him down when the church had collapsed on him, but the British vamp standing before her was very...well, he was still dead, just of the undead variety instead of the dusted kind. Dusted was the way Buffy liked them.

Buffy folded her arms across her chest, the sharpened stake still ready in one hand.

"I mean, if you just wanted to talk all night, I'm sure your insane, crazy, bitch of an undead girlfriend could do that for you, Spikey. Me, I'm not feeling the chit chat. So--"

Buffy was cut off as Spike took another step toward her, suddenly taking a much more offensive stance.

"That's the way I like it," Buffy said, closing the distance between them and ducking as Spike sent a heavy punch toward her.

As Buffy came back up, she brought one leg around, swinging it hard and crushing it against the back of Spike's knees, bringing him to the ground before her. She took the moment to land another kick to his stomach, knocking him backwards as well. The vampire used the momentum and somersaulted backwards, coming back up to stand before the Slayer.

"Is that all you got, Slayer?" he asked her, ducking as Buffy threw another punch at him. "I could dance like this all night with you, love." Spike smiled as he threw a punch of his own and Buffy ducked it once again.

"Oh trust me," Buffy smiled, "it won't take me all night."

She faked a kick and landed a hard punch to Spike's abdomen, causing him to double over, one hand against his stomach.

Buffy sent another kick in his direction, knocking the vampire over and causing him to land against a nearby tree. Buffy closed the distance between them immediately, and, grabbing Spike by the shirt, pushed him up against the tree, knocking his bleached blonde head against the bark as she did so. She pulled the stake out of her back pocket, where she had stored it in the middle of their fight.

"It didn't take me long at all, Spike," she quipped, placing the stake in front of his heart. "Thanks for the dance though."

For a moment, Spike's face was one of surprise. Then, glancing down briefly at the pointed wooden stake that was aimed at his heart, he smiled wide and looked past Buffy.

"Anytime, love," the vampire said as Buffy brought her arm back to dust him.


	13. Chapter 13

I do want to apologize for any gramatical or spelling errors...I don't have a beta reader or anything like that so all faults are my own..I'm sorry if any of them make reading difficult, but I do hope you still enjoy the story. I try to post whatever I have quickly so you guys can read :)

Here's a late disclaimer;; I own nothing. No names, no settings, no plots, nothing, nothing, nothing. :(

Please, please, review. Surprisingly, I really enjoy whatever criticisms you guys have, and I definitely like hearing your ideas about where the story should go or what things should happen. Thanks so much for reading and sticking with the story...hope its still good for you guys!

* * *

As Buffy pulled her arm back to end the vampire before her, a thought quickly crossed her mind. Spike was too confident, too cocky considering this was the end for him. But before she had time to think of anything else, a clawed hand reached out, grabbed Buffy's arm, and twisted the stake right out of her grasp. Buffy let out a sharp exhale of pain as her arm was twisted behind her and was slammed against her back. She had heard a snap, and she quickly realized that her arm must have been twisted out of place. Buffy tried to send a backwards kick toward the body of her unknown captor, but instead, her leg was caught between the legs of the person standing behind her. Buffy struggled, but she couldn't escape either of the two grips that held her body still. Pain was still coursing through her arm, and with it, fear was beginning to rise out of her gut. She was trapped.

"Thing is, love," Spike said, pushing himself up from his position against the tree and taking a step toward the Slayer. "I never come to a dance without a partner. Isn't that right, Dru?" Spike smiled at the crazy vampire behind Buffy.

"Yes, love," Drusilla said, as she tightened her legs around Buffy's leg, to secure the Slayer in place. "Spike wanted us all to play together tonight, little Slayer. Isn't that wonderful?"

Buffy tried to use her other arm to punch, scratch, or in anyway injure Drusilla, but the vampire simply grabbed it and pulled it behind Buffy, securing it in a tight grip. Buffy's other arm was useless, the Slayer noted with fear. She couldn't even move it.

"Silly little Slayer," Dru chided. "We aren't finished with you yet."

As Dru finished her sentence, Spike pulled his arm back and punched Buffy, hard, in the gut. The Slayer probably would have doubled over, if it hadn't been for the fact that she was still being held upright by the deranged vampire behind her. Drusilla laughed as she felt Buffy's body respond to Spike's punch.

"My turn, my turn," she sang, throwing Buffy forward. Buffy took her second's freedom to get her legs underneath her and to make a run for it. Before she had time to take more than even a step, strong arms had grabbed her and had spun her back to face Drusilla.

"Ah, ah, Slayer," Spike chided. "Princess said we weren't done yet."

Drusilla clapped at the sight of the Slayer in front of her. She took a step forward and attempted to catch Buffy's gaze.

Buffy was, however, much more familiar with the insane vampire than Drusilla's normal victims were. Buffy avoided Drusilla's eyes completely, refusing to look anywhere near them.

Dru's face turned into a frown. "Spike, she's not playing fair," she pouted.

"Well, love," Spike grunted as he took a stronger hold of the struggling Slayer. "We just won't play by the rules then."

Drusilla smiled. Had Buffy been in a better, safer position, she would have rolled her eyes at the deranged vampire couple. They both needed to be put down. For good. But Buffy's heart was racing. She was in a serious position right now, and she needed a way out--immediately.

Drusilla took a step closer to the Slayer and, shaking her long sleeved dress away from her hands, bared her long fingernails. _Claws, _Buffy noted with a sinking feeling. Dru placed both hands against Buffy's bare arms and drug them down against the Slayer's skin. Buffy tried to hide the pain that flashed across her face as the vampire's nails dug in ruthlessly, leaving five perfect trails of blood down each of the Slayer's arms.

Dru brought one of her hands up to her mouth and popped her finger in, tasting Buffy's blood.

"Delicious," she noted with satisfaction. She danced around Buffy for a moment, still sucking on a finger. "Would you like to try some, sugar?" she asked Spike, dancing to stand beside him. Buffy groaned slightly in disgust as Drusilla held up a finger for Spike to lick.

"Slayer," the vampire said appreciatively, continuing to suck on Dru's finger.

* * *

"I'm just saying that Buffy's probably not going to be very happy about us showing up if she said she wanted to be alone," Xander said, turning to look at Willow as the walked across Sunnydale's darkened streets.

"Even Giles agreed with me, Xander. It's dangerous for someone to be out there all by herself, Buffy's just too out of it to really see that." Willow was sure that they were doing the right thing. Buffy needed people to back her up, and even though Willow and Xander both knew that they were useless compared to the Slayer, Willow still felt it was appropriate that they be there, just in case.

"Fine, but if we get there and she's all crazy-pissed off-Slayer-Buffy, then it's all your fault."

Willow smiled, happy to take the blame if it meant they were going with Buffy to patrol. "No problem."

The two friends crossed another empty alley, anxious to get on a road with some decent streetlights, and headed toward the cemetary.

* * *

Despite using all of her strength to keep her head held high, Buffy's head was slowly falling, her chin coming to rest against her chest. Spike had passed Buffy back to Drusilla almost five minutes before, and although Buffy had used all of her strength to attempt to make another run for it, the female vampire had grabbed her and held her securely as Spike repeatedly punched her. Buffy was ready to give up, as much as she hated to admit it.

"Aw, the Slayer's poopin' out on us, love," Spike noticed, lifting Buffy's chin up to examine her. Buffy managed a glare and, while Spike was still close enough to attempt it, she brought back her free leg and kneed the vampire hard in the groin. The corners of her lips turned up in a smile as she watched the vampire fall to his knees in front of her, holding on tightly to his damaged man-parts.

After a minute, Spike was up again, this time in game face. He took a step toward Buffy, ordering Drusilla to watch the Slayer's legs as he did so.

"Time to end you then, pet," Spike said simply. He leaned down over Buffy's neck. Buffy closed her eyes. She wasn't quite sure what she had expected to happen in the end, but she didn't want to watch as Spike's fangs got closer and closer to her bare neck. She would be his third Slayer, she realized. Her heart pounded loudly in her chest and she waited for what was to come.

The Slayer was surprised when she heard an angry growl erupt from behind her and, openning her eyes, was even more surprised to find a confused looking Spike about five feet away from her after having been knocked down in the grass. Buffy lifted up her head, her eyes scanning the graveyard for the attacker. Whoever it was, friend or foe, she owed them her life.

Buffy blinked a few times, turning her head to see around her.

As she did, she saw a blur of movement out of her peripheral vision, and suddenly she was freed from Drusilla's grasp. Buffy fell to her knees on the graveyard ground, her good arm supporting her, her other arm still turned around behind her. She looked up and was startled to find Angelus throwing Drusilla's thin form to the ground beside Spike.

Angelus was outraged. He had given both vampires strict orders _not_ to touch Buffy Summers. Drusilla was his childe, Spike his grandchilde, and neither had obeyed.

"Dru, go home," Angelus said, his voice an eerie calm. "I'll deal with you later."

Drusilla pouted for a moment, and then raised herself up from the ground and turned and disappeared into the treees.

When Angelus turned back to Spike, the younger vampire was already standing up, dusting off his backside as he did so.

"Sorry, gramps, but we were just doin' what you obviously couldn't do. Old age must be gettin' to ya though. In case you didn't notice, the _Slayer, _she's our enemy. You oughtta _want_ us to kill her," Spike said loudly, as if talking to a child.

Angelus took two long steps to close the distance between himself and the other vampire and punched him hard across the face, knocking him to the ground again. Spike's mouth set in a hard, straight line, his eyes narrowed at Angelus. He stood up again and forced a smile.

"Whatever, mate," Spike said, sucking his cheeks in. "Do what you want with the bitch, I don't care." Spike turned and walked away from Angelus before he could respond and disappeared into the trees after his sire.

Angelus turned to Buffy, who was lifting herself up off the ground gingerly, standing shakily on her feet.

He went to her and, stopping just before her, tilted his head curiously as to what he was going to do. Spike was right, she was the Slayer. She should be killed, but Angelus wanted to be the one to do it, when the time was right. _If_ the time was ever right. For now, he had thought he had made it perfectly clear that he wanted her alive, and he wanted her for himself.

He put a large hand around her waist, steadying her slightly. She looked up at him and gave him a small grateful smile. Then she froze. In the distance, from just over the hill, Buffy could hear two very familiar voices coming toward her.

"Shit," she cursed quietly.

"What--" Angelus was cut off quickly by Buffy's 'shh.'

"Xander and Willow," she mouthed. "They can't see us." Buffy looked around wildly, wondering what to do. Thinking quickly, she reached into her bag and pulled out the black sweater she had brought with her. Using Angelus to steady herself, she put it on, pulling the sleeves down past her bloody arms.

Angelus cocked a curious eyebrow at her.

"Go," Buffy ordered suddenly, realizing that he was still there.

Angelus wasn't one for taking orders, but after a quiet 'please' from the desperate Slayer, he disappeared behind a large crypt. Buffy grabbed her damaged arm, pulling it forward slightly despite the shooting pain that the movement sent throughout her body. She took a deep breath and walked up over the hill, greeting her friends as they entered the cemetary.

She forced a smile. "Willow, Xan," she greeted with fake surprise. "What're you doing here?"

Her friends looked just as surprised that they had found her so quickly.

"Coming to see you Buffster," Xander replied. "Everything okay?" He wasn't sure what, but something seemed off about Buffy.

"Yep, just heading home," Buffy said, walking toward them as nonchalantly as she could manage. "What're you guys doing here this late?"

"We were coming--" Willow hesitated as Xander nudged her in the arm.

"Astronomy project," he said seriously. "Yep, the best piece of sky is right here, over Sunnydale's own cemetary. Would ya guess it?"

Despite the pain she was in, Buffy gave her friend a confused look. Oh well, she didn't have time to figure out what they were really up to. She felt as if she were going to pass out at any minute, and she definitely didn't want to do it in front of her already worried friends.

"Alright guys, be careful," she warned, before quickly passing them. "See ya tomorrow," she called over her shoulder, hurrying to the edge of the cemetary. She was worried about them. She didn't want Xander or Willow to run into a wandering Spike or Drusilla. Buffy hunched forward slightly as pain went through her abdomen where Spike's blows had repeatedly landed. She wouldn't be able to protect them in this state anyways, she realized. She hoped that Angelus' orders to the vampires would be obeyed--that they would go straight home--and that Willow and Xander didn't run into any stray vampires either.

Once she was away from the cemetary, she noticed a dark figure waiting for her up ahead. She ignored it and focused on making the rest of the journey home. She was still hunched over slightly--only because it eased the pain--and her good arm was wrapped around her throbbing stomach. Her other arm laid uselessly at her side. She tried to straighten herself up as she approached the figure. She wanted to make it home unaided. By now, Joyce should be home, and Buffy couldn't walk through the house like a hunchback and pretend nothing was wrong.

Angelus stepped in front of Buffy, blocking her path and forcing the Slayer to come to a painful halt. Her arm tightened around her stomach. Angelus cocked his head at the sight of the Slayer.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked her plainly, as she stepped around him and continued her hunched over walk through the streets.

"Home." The Slayer didn't even look at him. Not that it was his fault, at least she didn't think he'd had anything to do with the assault on her, but still, she felt as if he deserved some of the blame. He was the one who had made Drusilla into the psycho that she was.

Angelus put an arm out to stop her as she turned the corner and started down Revello Drive. He looked up the street at her house, which was lit up. Joyce was obviously home.

Buffy cast Angelus a tired, angry glare and took another step forward. The vampire grabbed her injured arm. Buffy winced noticably and stopped, turning to face him.

"What?" she asked him, clearly pissed.

"You're going home..." he looked thoughtful, "...like that?"

Buffy looked at him incredulously. "Yeah," she said dumbly. "What do you expect me to do?"

Angelus released her injured arm and stepped in front of her. He grabbed her other arm and lifted it, exposing one of her hands. Blood dripped off a fingertip as he did so.

"Come with me," he said simply, dropping her arm back to her side.

Buffy was tired and she was, regrettably, out of options.

"Why?"

Angelus shrugged. "Fine," he replied. "Tell your mom you were attacked by a cat on your way home. A cat with five fingers. Good luck."

Buffy sighed and hunched over more as the action caused pain to resonate from her stomach. She closed her eyes tightly as a wave of dizziness passed over her. She reached a hand out to steady herself. Angelus offered his arm, still looking at the Slayer curiously.

Buffy nodded, finally making up her mind. She could call and tell her mom she was staying at Willow's.

Angelus waited a second, then put a large arm around Buffy, carrying some of her weight for her as he turned her around and headed in the opposite direction. There was an empty house he kept on the edge of town, near the mansion. He wouldn't tell Buffy, but he had killed the home's owner right after he had lost his soul and had decided to keep the house for himself. It gave him a place to bring victims if he wanted to...have some fun with them first. He _definitely_ wouldn't tell Buffy that.

He glanced toward the Slayer, watching as she limped slightly. He peeked at her arm. He could tell her shoulder had been twisted out of place. That was going to be painful to fix, he noted calmly to himself, the corner of his mouth turning up slightly at the thought. Not that he liked Buffy in pain, or maybe he did. Angelus was a vampire...he liked pain in general.

Buffy exhaled another breath of pain and prayed that convincing her mother that she was at Willow's would be easy. She looked up at the vampire at her side and was surprised to find that a small, half grin was on his face. She wondered at the cause of it and hoped that it wasn't because of her condition.


	14. Chapter 14

They walked through town slowly; Angelus had to shorten his stride in order to not leave behind his wounded Slayer. Buffy had been in a daze for most of the walk. She had failed, as far as she was concerned. She had let an insane vampire couple nearly beat her. Had it not been for Angelus, a new Slayer would have already have been called. Buffy would have been dead, again.

The Slayer turned to look up at the tall vampire walking beside her. He looked menacing under the streetlights, his face halfway hidden in the shadows. His powerful strides and his confident stance had slowed to meet her own. He looked down at her, his head cocked slightly. One eyebrow turned up as he noticed she was staring at him.

Buffy looked away quickly, her gaze refocused on the ground in front of her. She was doing everything she could to continue walking forward despite the pain that pounded through her with each step. The scratches on her arms had stopped stinging a while ago. Most of the blood had dried and she found that the pain had ceased to a pleasant numb feeling. Her damaged arm was pressed tight against her body in order to keep it from moving as she walked. She wasn't exactly sure how that would heal, but for the moment, it too was numb, and all she could focus on was getting somewhere and sleeping. The rest of her body was still screaming at her as she walked. Buffy's abdomen felt like it was on fire. There was a stabbing pain pulsing from the left side of her chest. Slayer strength or not, Spike and Drusilla had pounded on her for a while before Angelus had stepped in, and she was fairly certain that quite a few of her ribs may have been broken. A small gasp escaped her lips as she took another step forward.

Angelus put a hand on Buffy's slender waist signaling her to stop. Buffy looked up past the vampire and to the house they were standing in front of. It was a beautiful old Victorian home, positioned on its own large plot of land on one of Sunnydale's older subdivision streets. When they reached the door, Angelus pulled out a key and opened the door for the injured Slayer. She walked in silently, stopping a few feet inside the home to wait for Angelus. After he had closed the door, he turned to Buffy, who had positioned herself so that she was leaning against the old home's marble entryway.

Angelus put a hand against Buffy's twisted shoulder, noting the wince that came from the action. He cocked his head toward a small hallway that led off the entryway. Once again, Buffy followed him without question into a large master bedroom. Angelus crossed the bedroom and opened another door that led to the master bath.

After the Slayer had followed him in, Angelus turned to her. Putting his hand beneath her chin, he tilted her head up gently to meet his eyes.

"You in there lover?" he asked her quietly.

Buffy nodded in reply, her eyes immediately falling to the floor as soon as he released her chin.

"We've gotta take care of that now before it heals wrong," Angelus said calmly, nodding toward her injured shoulder.

Buffy raised her eyes to meet his in reply. She wasn't sure what 'taking care' of her injured arm meant. She was the Slayer. She had always assumed it would just heal naturally. Her tired eyes narrowed in confusion.

"Your bone's going to heal with your shoulder twisted back like that. Trust me, it'll be more painful to fix it later than to fix it now." Buffy's face was blank as he explained it to her. When she didn't reply, Angelus took a step back toward the door. "Whatever." He held his hands up in defeat. "Do what you want."

Buffy was silent for another minute, until Angelus heard two quiet words come out, her voice fragile. "Trust you?" she asked. She looked up to meet his eyes.

A cocky half-grin graced Angelus' face. "Yeah, lover. Trust," he said simply. His eyes narrowed as Buffy seemed to consider her options. Finally, she closed the remaining distance between them and turned so he could have access to her injured shoulder. He reached out and grabbed it gently, far more gently than Buffy would have ever expected from him.

"Lean against the wall," he ordered. Buffy backed up until her back was pressed against the wall firmly. Angelus closed the distance between them and pressed his body up against the Slayers. He put one of his large hands around her small arm and he placed the other one gently against the front of her shoulder.

"You ready for this?" he asked, leaning down to catch her eye. Buffy simply nodded in reply.

In one quick, hard motion, Angelus pulled Buffy's shoulder up and out of its socket. Buffy gasped in pain. Had Angelus not been pressing against her, she would have doubled over. As it was, her forehead leaned against his shoulder and her good hand clutched his shirt. A second later, Angelus pushed hard against her shoulder and pulled it back down into its proper place. Buffy let out another gasp and then a slight sigh of relief as much of the pain disappeared. She rotated her shoulder gently, cautiously and found that she could move it easily. The pounding pain had decreased to a dull throbbing.

"Thank you," she said, looking up at Angelus.

"Pain's what I do, baby," he answered with a shrug. He looked at her shoulder critically, using years of experience as he eyed it to make certain it was in the right place. He grabbed the opening of her sweater and took it off of her gently in order to gain access to her injured arms. Tossing the sweater to the floor, he grabbed her arm and lifted it up so he could examine it. Drusilla had sliced through Buffy's skin easily, leaving long red streaks against Buffy's smooth skin. A fresh trail of blood had started flowing from one of the scratches again. Angelus met Buffy's eyes and raised his eyebrows. He lifted her arm to his mouth and gently put his lips around the blood. He licked up to the scratch, greedily taking in her rich blood.

Buffy shivered slightly, the action allowing her to feel something for the first time that night.

Angelus smiled at her shiver. He reached the opening of the wound and sucked gently, pulling blood from the wound before he allowed it to finish healing completely.

"Your blood is…amazing," he said, lifting his head up to look her in the eyes. He looked at Buffy's tired eyes. Her gaze was unfocused; she stared at him as if she were looking straight through him.

"You're no fun when you're like this lover," Angelus mused, stepping away from Buffy and opening a bathroom cabinet. He pulled out a roll of gauze and a wash rag. After soaking the rag in warm water, he gently wiped the wounds his childe had left. When all the dried blood had been wiped from both arms, Angelus unrolled the white gauze as he wrapped it around her arm. Finishing one arm and moving to the next, Angelus stared intently at Buffy. She looked so defeated. His brow furrowed as he realized that he had savored every bit of her pain the night that he had murdered Jenny Calendar, and yet this pain affected him differently. It was not that he wasn't enjoying it, but it just didn't seem to satiate his thirst for pain as much as it had before. He shrugged off the worry as he finished wrapping her other arm. He was angry with Spike and Drusilla for disobeying orders; he knew he loved the Slayer in pain, but he also knew that he wanted to be the one who caused it. Spike and Dru had taken that away from him. He let a low growl escape his throat as he thought about their disobedience.

The growl woke Buffy from her daze. She looked down and noted that both of her arms had been wrapped in soft, white gauze. She looked to Angelus who was returning the gauze to its place in the cabinet. She moved to lean against the bathroom wall again. She was just so tired, and her ribs still felt as if they were piercing through her.

"Ah, ah," Angelus chided, reaching out to grab her waist and steady her before she reached the wall. "Come. You need to sleep." With a hand placed delicately on the small of her back, Angelus guided her through the bathroom door and toward the large king sized bed placed in the middle of the magnificent master bedroom. Buffy sat on the edge of the bed and looked up to Angelus.

"Mom," she said quietly, looking up at him.

"Excuse me?" He asked her, his brow furrowed.

Buffy shook her head gently, trying to clear her thoughts. "I need to call my mom and tell her something. She'll be worried."

Angelus chuckled slightly at the Slayer's strange worry about appeasing her mother. He walked silently out of the room and returned a minute later with a phone.

After spending a minute getting her story straight, Buffy called her mom and explained that she was staying at Willow's for the night. After being chided for not calling earlier and after promising to go home early in the morning, Buffy hung up with Joyce. Letting out a long sigh, Buffy set the phone on the large wooden nightstand that was beside the bed. Angelus walked up to her again and looked down at the small Slayer. He noted the blood that coated her top. He reached down to the bottom of her shirt and pulled it up and over her head before she had time to argue.

Buffy looked up and met Angelus' eyes with a frown. What the hell did he think he was doing?

Angelus laughed and tossed the shirt to the floor. "You have blood all over you, lover," he explained, as if to a child. "I don't want blood in my bed."

"Yeah, because I'm sure it would be the first blood spilt in your bed," Buffy muttered under her breath.

"That may be so," Angelus mused. He gave a small smile as Buffy met his eyes again. Angelus leaned down, his nose against Buffy's neck. "But sleeping beside you is tantalizing enough, lover. I don't think I could be held responsible for my actions if you were also covered in your blood. Besides, you're a guest in my home, and I don't want blood in the bed tonight."

"This _home,_" Buffy said, a hint of disgust in her voice, "probably became yours only after you killed some nice family who lived here. Some home."

Angelus' hand shot out, violently grabbing at Buffy's side where her ribs were slowly knitting themselves back together. She let out a short gasp of pain and moved away from his hand. She turned her head to look at him, her brows furrowed at the pain he had caused her.

"If you have somewhere better to go, then leave," Angelus bit out angrily, removing his hand. Buffy said nothing. She stared at her feet which were still dangling over the side of the bed. Angelus moved her legs so that they were on the bed, and her back was against the headboard. Then, moving with preternatural speed, he was on the other side of the bed, pulling back the covers. In one swift motion, he had pulled his shirt off and was lying back comfortably on the bed.

Buffy turned and looked at him with narrowed eyes and then resigned herself to her situation. Scooting her body down on the bed so that she was lying down, Buffy eventually managed to get herself into an almost comfortable, nearly pain-free position. Angelus watched her as she breathed a sigh of relief and settled into a lying position. He moved so that he was closer to her. Reaching out slowly, he laid his fingers gently on her exposed stomach and traced them up to her ribs. Her eyes closed slightly as he touched the bruised flesh. He traced his fingers over the ridges of her broken ribs, enjoying the way her face scrunched up in pain as he did so. When he reached the bottom of her bra, he moved his fingers to trace them back down her ribs again. Buffy's hand reached out and grabbed his before he had the chance to do so.

Holding his hand away from her, she pleaded quietly, "Please don't. It still hurts."

Angelus let out a frustrated growl and rolled his eyes. It seemed that thanks to his rebellious children, he would barely be able to touch his Slayer tonight. That was alright, he noted calmly to himself. He had all the time in the world, and he still wasn't completely sure what he even wanted from the Slayer.

"Fine, lover." He moved so that his body was cradling hers gently, and he pulled her closer to him, one of his strong arms making itself comfortable wrapped around her small waist.

Slightly confused, Buffy was unsure as to how to react. Slowly, she relaxed into the softness of the bed and found herself moving her body to conform to the vampire beside her. She nodded her head forward until her forehead rested against his hard chest. She breathed in deeply, enjoying the smell of Angelus, and was slightly startled to realize that it was Angel's smell—the smell that she had once loved. She looked upward to meet Angelus' eyes, only to find him staring down at her intently.

"I know who you're looking for, lover," Angelus said quietly, deeply searching Buffy's eyes. "And you know he's no longer here." Angelus was tired of knowing that Buffy was thinking of Angel when it was so clearly Angelus who was lying beside her. "Slayer," Angelus breathed quietly. "Sleep with _me_ tonight." He put an arm around her and pulled her tightly against him.

Instead of resisting, Buffy found herself curling up so that she fit nicely beside him. Breathing in Angel's—no, _Angelus'_—scent, Buffy found herself oddly relaxed. The pain that had been with her since her attack seemed to drift slowly away as Buffy fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Okay, there it is. Another chapter...only 8 or so months later. Sorry :/ I took a bit of a hiatus from the story but I'm considering getting back into it a bit. Feel free to review and let me know what you thought about the update. We got to see some more just Buffy/Angelus. And for everyone who's anxious to see them together...I'm just trying to keep it real to the show, and I really feel like Buffy would not just let Angelus get in her pants a week or so after he killed Jenny. Or even a month after. She was only ever with one person and it was Angel...same guy plus a soul. So I just feel like she would take it very slow.

Anyways, enjoy. And Happy Christmas/whatever else it is you celebrate :)


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